Altered Paths
by Nemesis13
Summary: Taylor's shard pinged off of Shadow Stalker and the Undersiders' shards turning Taylor into something….utterly terrifying and completely unpredictable. Featuring an Alt!Power set reminiscent of Pride of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood fame, a Tinker partner specializing in light energy weapons, and a city filled with villains to traumatize with Eldritch horror nightmare fuel.
1. Prologue

**Header: I've been suffering some seriously extreme writers block the past month, trying to force my way past it with this.**

**Hello all and welcome to Altered Paths, where Queen Administrator pings off of Shadow Stalker and the Undersiders' shards turning Taylor into something….utterly terrifying. I am going to be playing a bit loose with ages and the time line since this is an Alternate Universe so be prepared for a few surprises.**

**Side note, I couldn't find proper Québécois French translations for Alec Alec'ing so if anyone wants to point out how to make it more authentic please feel free to do so.**

* * *

"You know I like your sister despite her being an annoying little bitch but really even for me her behavior has gotten beyond ridiculous lately," Lisa stated this as Brian brought the car to a halt in the broken asphalt field that served as the parking lot for Winslow High school, shaking his head he threw the gear shift into park and closed his eyes.

Taking in a deep breath he turned the key and pocketed it while glancing over to his teammate, "I am very aware of that Tails, and I didn't ask you two to come along regardless so really I don't need the commentary at the moment."

Seriously, Aisha would be giving him enough of that in a few minutes so why add to the problem?

"You didn't ask for us to be here but you _do_ need us to help deal with your little sister's latest bout of 'fuck the police' bullshit regardless. Seriously it's her first day back from Christmas break and she's already acting up," Lisa stated with an all knowing smirk.

Brian suppressed a wince as he unbuckled his seat belt while lamenting the fact that his partner in crime was not in actuality wrong; glancing to his side to take in the attractive blonde sporting a now full blown vulpine grin following up that thought did not help him reach his calm in the slightest.

"I hate you, you know that right?"

Alec snorted as he popped his door open and hopped out of the back seat stretching all while making obnoxious clicking noises with his tongue in the process, "Of course she knows it, that's why she's making it worth her while by screwing with you. Think this place has WiFi?"

Brian glared at the dilapidated building before him while shaking his head slowly as he responded to the non sequitur, "Alec the only thing this shit hole has is Nazis, Pan-Asian separatist idiots, strung out junkies infected with name your STD, and a tiny margin of unaffiliated 'leave me the hell alone,' outliers."

Alec's visage shifted from amused to sulking as he took in the punch line to public education resting before him in all its faded and moldering 1980's architectural glory.

"Ah," his tone suddenly sounded deeply betrayed as he muttered, "Well...fuck."

"Welcome to Brockton Bay," Lisa stated with faux cheerfulness, "where dreams come to die."

Alec sighed and shook his head while muttering, _"Pour l'amour de ... D'accord. Pouvons-nous simplement continuer?_."

Lisa rolled her eyes as she cuffed Alec on the back of the head as she moved to follow Brian, _"Arrêter de se plaindre."_

Alec ruffled his hair in annoyance as he turned towards Brian, "Dad did you see what mom just did?"

Brian, not missing a beat replied with, "Did she just hit you for being a smart ass?"

"Yes."

"Obviously she hadn't hit you hard enough, Lisa give it your 'A' game next time."

Lisa grinned as she raised her hand, _"Avec plaisir."_

Alec howled in a mostly false rage as he held his now thoroughly smacked head while stumbling towards the school entrance, "Oh hell that hurts! You fucking bitch, I think you gave me a fucking concussion! This is abuse! I don't have to put up with this! I'm calling OSHA and reporting you!"

Lisa paused a moment and raised a brow while she dryly clarified what she had just heard with, "The Occupational Safety and Health Administration?"

Alec paused, "Err...I guess?"

"First off you are Canadian, second off you are an illegal Canadian which just boggles the mind a bit if one was not familiar with your situation, and third off OSHA is for the work place, not schools."

"What's in place for schools?"

Lisa scoffed as she pushed the doors open, "Learn to Google peasant."

Alec glared at her a few moments before snapping out, "I'm staring at your ass!"

Lisa lightly smacked her skinny jean clad left butt cheek while glancing over her shoulder to wink at Alec, "And I'd be concerned if you weren't."

Alec let out a sigh as he opened his mouth and just as quickly closed it as Brian grabbed his shoulder and pulled him along,

"Don't, seriously, just don't, it isn't worth it."

Sighing yet again Alec shrugged and followed Brian along the filth stained walls of Winslow high school until they came to a stop before a secretary, who pointedly ignored them for several heartbeats as she continued to tap away on her phone seemingly oblivious to the world around her.

Then she just continued to ignore them for a few more moments, still focused on her phone.

Then the silence continued on for a few more tense moments.

Then it dragged along for a few more quite uncomfortable minutes putting all three teenage Capes on a rather unnecessary edge.

Eventually Brian politely coughed and was yet again ignored; Lisa then shifted about while muttering 'excuse me,' and was also ignored in turn.

This behavior was simply impolite, thus Alec turned on his taser and placed the electrically arcing bit of self defense hardware on the desktop while glaring at the secretary doing his best to appear unamused.

The woman's eyes widened noticeably as she stared at the taser, then met Alec's grinning visage.

He then spoke to her in the manner she deserved.

"We talk to principal. We have meeting. We losing patience. You give message. No more waiting. Or we get angry. Go. Now."

She nodded stupidly before turning and running to the door behind her and quickly slammed it shut after entering it in a mad scramble.

Brian and Lisa were quiet for a time before Brian spoke up, "You know, you're a completely unrepentant ass, but really you do get shit done."

Lisa snorted while nodding, "True enough, let's just hope whatever Aisha did hasn't resulted in half the school burning down."

Alec smirked, "What can I say, I'm awesome."

It was then that all three Undersiders felt a sense of vertigo and very nearly fainted as they fell to the ground. The lights fluctuated above them, the air turned tepid stinking of ozone, and none of them knew what to make of the situation.

A few moments later Lisa stumbled to her feet looking about the office in shock while muttering, "Wh...what the...what in the world..."

* * *

"I can't believe that little bitch was stupid enough to open her locker! Never mind the smell she should have managed to see what was leaking on the floor and known better. What a fucking retard!"

Emma stated this while Madison did her best to smile and titter like a moron as the redhead Queen Bee of their year group cackled along with her psychotic jock bestie at the continued misfortune of their favorite punching bag, namely one Taylor Hebert.

This situation was nothing new, and despite her shame for participating in the harmless awkward girl's bullying she had long considered being at the devil's side a far better option than being in her path. Madison scowled at that thought, then quickly schooled her features suppressing a sigh while letting out a tittering, "Oh what did the loser do this time?"

Sophia gave her a superior smirk that bordered on a sneer as Emma shot Madison a condescending glare.

What. Complete. Bitches.

"Oh you wouldn't know since we cut all you small fish out of the prank, but me and Emma, we thought of something perfect for putting Hebert in her place."

Madison closed her eyes and took in a deep breath while thinking, 'Emma and I thought of a perfect plan to put Hebert in her place,' you fucking illiterate microcephalic addle-pate…

Regardless, was calling her a 'small fish' meant as an insult? Honestly with these two Madison was more confused than not with all of their weird animal kingdom metaphors.

English you uncouth philistine, do you speak it?

"Oh?" Madison asked with faux enthusiasm, "What did you do to the dork this time?"

Emma broke out laughing then clapped like a mentally deficient seal before drawling out, "Well, we gathered all the bloody tampons from the girls rest rooms and left them in the weaklings' locker before Christmas break."

Madison froze.

Oh.

Oh please even you could not possibly be that sadistic and…shit…oh fuck yes she could be.

Sophia continued on grinning like butter would not melt in her mouth, "We left it all rotting in Hebert's locker over break, then this morning, when she opened it we shoved her into the mess and left the little bitch in there crying for help. Like a terrified little doe! It was amazing!"

Emma and Sophia cackled with glee as their hangers on giggled and tittered nervously, Madison herself was trying her best not to grow queasy at the imagery. That…did they have any idea what they had done? Seriously if anyone actually bothered to pay attention to the details that was just…holy shit this was so screwed up.

While Madison tried to figure out what to do about the rather extreme situation she had been thrust into, Sophia's eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards twitching like a tweaker needing their fix right the hell now as she hit the floor with all of the aplomb of a landed trout.

"Huh."

Awkward, yet… fortuitous.

Leaving Emma and her sycophants to their panic Madison rushed towards the cafeteria exit while pulling her phone out of her pocket, dialing 911 she power walked down the hall until the line was picked up.

"911 please state the na-"

This was dragging a line in the sand, there was no going back from this, and…and she just couldn't take being the weakling anymore, Hebert, no, seriously no one deserved this and it was about time that justice was served.

Fuck the consequences.

"Get an ambulance to Winslow High School now! Police too, I mean please send police, they'll just cover all this shit up again if you don't have police here."

There was a pause, then, "Miss if you could-"

She didn't have time for this, "My name is Madison Clements, I just found out Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess locked Taylor Hebert in her locker that they filled with used rotting tampons in an attempt to murder her."

They hadn't said as much but it was implied and, eh, if she was going to go down doing the right thing she was going to take the psychopaths down with her. Not much trumped murder charges after all, so yeah, weee…..

"Miss if you cou-"

Madison snapped out, "Not time for talking! Get an ambulance here and send your people to the third floor…they'll smell the locker. Oh, don't say shit to the principle she'll just cover this up again like she does everything else Hess and Barnes pull."

Hanging up Madison jammed her phone into her pocket nodding to herself as she took in a deep breath and stopped before her destination while slamming her fist into the door before her. There was no immediate response so she slammed her fist against the door again, eventually it creaked open and she viewed the school janitor as he stared down at her in curiosity.

"Yes?" He stated with a raised brow, Madison met his gaze evenly while steeling herself for what was to come.

"There is a girl trapped in her locker swimming in rotting bloody tampons and you are literally the only adult in this freaking school I can hope to trust to help me get her free before the police get here and lock this shit heap up tighter than a dolphin's asshole to cover for the psychos, again."

Truthfully, Madison had no idea how airtight a porpoise's asshole was, but her tone and vocabulary seemed to be enough to get the old man moving. A minute later she was leading the man towards Taylor's locker and they both gagged as they approached the landing, autonomic reflex causing both of them to bend over and dry heave.

Wrapping a sleeve around his face the janitor covered his nose and approached the locker with fetid sludge leaking out of it; stepping past the puddle he jimmied his key into the backside of the combination lock and quickly knocked it off to the floor which was followed with a wet *plop*.

Flicking the locker latch the door swung open and a bloodied, unmoving body fell out of the small enclosure, and Madison had to suppress a scream as it rolled out and hit the floor. Not because of the blood, bile, and rot, no, because of the dozens of cockroaches that swarmed away from the still form after impact, Madison couldn't take it at this point.

She threw up, glanced back towards Taylor as maggots crawled across the comatose girl's eyes, and then proceeded to throw up yet again.

It hit her just then, as she regained control of her faculties and turned back towards the now twitching girl.

This was her fault…

She had been terrified of the bitch duos little fiefdom so she had joined up and hadn't said a word as they tormented this girl, allowed them to coerce her to help with said torture, and now…now she was… she was.

What?

An accessory to attempted murder?

She… she didn't kn-

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Taylor began screaming as she tried to scratch her eyes out, destroying her glasses in the process before Madison and the janitor managed to hold her arms down, but that did not stop the girl from madly scrambling about. It was all Madison could manage to do to help hold Taylor still until the paramedics showed up, who upon their arrival quickly sedated the still panicking girl till she passed out, safe for transport to the closest hospital.

Madison gave her statement to first responders, and promised to come to the police station with her parents tomorrow. She soon found herself stumbling forward and followed the paramedics outside, and somehow ended up inside the ambulance transporting Taylor, which was just...

That didn't happen, that was fucking daytime television bullshit…yet here she was… Seriously this city had to have the most inept police force on the Eastern Seaboard...

Ugh, whatever, she wasn't going to dwell on it.

Thus she sat at the back of the ambulance, watching medics scrambling to stabilize Taylor, and then her thoughts came to a grinding halt as she heard one of them yell, "Shit, she's flat lining, paddles, NOW!"

Madison dragged her hands through her hair and stared at the vacant eyed corpse before her and could only mutter out, "N-n-no…"

This was her fault. She could've stopped this sooner. She could've spoken up before. This was her fault...

Something cracked in her mind just then, and Madison only felt-

[DESTINATION]

Wait, what?

[AGREEMENT]

Seriously what in the-

[TRAJECTORY]

"Clear!" The paramedic shouted as she placed a pair of wired paddles on Taylors now bare chest.

[AGREEMENT]

Then Taylor gasped for breath as Madison passed out.

* * *

**Just to clarify for later chapters, Taylor triggered as a much more terrifying version of Pride from Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood thanks to Shadow Stalker and the Undersiders' pinging off of QA, who is going to be doing its very best to halp things along. Oh, and Madison is going to be her Tinker minder, Gods help the poor girl.**

**Shenanigans shall ensue.**


	2. Madison

**So first real chapter is all from Madison's perspective as I establish her personality which was greatly influenced by my conversations with Temporal Knight, so I hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

Madison detested waiting for the bus, not because she was impatient or disliked public transportation, but rather that she just genuinely hated people and in turn dealing with them. Just a few minutes spent dealing with their petty insecurities, life issues, self-imposed delusions, and just being shitty examples of the human species were often enough to sour her entire day.

The fact they simply could not be avoided unless she became a full time recluse did not help matters in the slightest.

Sighing she turned up the volume of the heavy metal blasting through her ear buds as the huddled mass of humanity surrounding her continued to prattle on underneath the awning that did nothing to protect them from the elements. Shocker of shocks the bus stops of Brockton Bay had their glass enclosures shot out by some drugged up gang bangers years ago, someone somewhere would probably be surprised by that but they would not have been born and raised in the Bay for sure.

The fact that it was currently drizzling at the moment didn't help matters either.

She sighed and pulled her hoody down lower over her eyes then shifted her heavy bag between her hands, all while doing her best to ignore the fact that the elderly lady beside her was probably trying to talk to her if her sad smile was any indicator. Madison grimaced at that, she didn't mean to be rude, that was impolite, she just, you know…didn't fucking care.

She'd looked up her issues before, back when she was trying to figure out why the hell she was putting up with Sophia and Emma being…nearly comically psychotic and getting away with it, and the answer hadn't amused her.

She was a classic case of misanthropy, Madison Clements fully and truly just disliked people and was a bit pissed off she was obligated to deal with them on a daily basis. On that note she took in a deep breath as she thought of her greatest fuckup and what it had cost a peer, brought her hand up under her hood, and pulled the ear bud out as she turned to the older woman and smiled, she honestly hoped it didn't look as fake as she felt it did.

"I'm sorry ma'am I didn't hear that, what did you say?"

The old lady smiled, then proceeded to ramble on about things Madison did not even remotely give a shit about, but…she listened regardless until her bus showed up and she made her excuses to leave the now pleased geriatric woman behind. Taking her seat and placing her bag on her lap Madison screwed her ear bud back into place and sighed in relief when the heavy bass drowned out the world around her.

Being nice was so damn hard….

If anyone were to ask, she would have quickly informed them that yes, being completely fucked up in the head and being aware of it well and truly sucked especially when coupled with the fact you couldn't write the whole deal off with the excuse of being a sociopath.

Madison was jealous of sociopaths really, they had a built in excuse for being terrible people, she in turn had to actually deal with having a conscience and fully understanding the repercussions of her actions…

"I really hate myself…" she muttered this to no one, but really it didn't matter regardless because it was true, she hated herself for being a coward, for being weak, for just going with the flow and not bothering to point out what Emma, Sophia, and yes…herself was doing to Taylor was thirty one flavors of absolutely fucked up.

She jerked up in surprise when she felt water drip on her hands, a moment later she realized that she was crying, hooray…crying makes everything better…

She brought out her phone and switched her music to KPop, she needed something fluffy and insubstantial at the moment.

When she arrived at her stop she meandered on towards the hospital and had to wait a few moments for the poorly maintained automatic doors to slide open before making her way up to the visitors desk. Leafing through the pages Madison sighed as she noticed that, again, she was the only one to be visiting the patient in question today, her dad hadn't even made an appearance…

Shaking her head while signing her name on the register Madison made her way to the elevator and quickly punched the button to the fourteenth floor, thankfully her trip was uninterrupted and she soon found herself approaching Taylor's room.

No cops waiting at the door this time, interesting but unimportant at the moment.

Entering the room and gently closing the door behind her Madison approached the bed and took in the image of a thin figure resting in it while feeling a sharp pang of regret.

Closing her eyes Madison breathed slowly while shakily pulling her ear buds out jamming them into her hoodies pocket. Steeling herself she pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, and gave its occupant a sad smile as she shakily opened her bag and began rummaging through it.

"Hey Taylor, today was, well, another day. Going to school after what happened just feels so damn meaningless, I really wonder why I'm bothering at this point, I doubt half of our teachers would even notice if I stopped showing up regardless."

Taylor didn't respond, she just sat in her bed, staring blankly at the wall just as she had for the past five days, but Madison was undeterred and continued on as she pulled a thermos out of the bag and soon filled its cap mug with tomato soup.

"Still no word on what the hell happened to Sophia after I threw her under the bus, it's like she just vanished from the face of the Earth, though you might be amused to find out that Emma was committed to a psych ward. She tried to blame me for everything, apparently I was the ringleader and I dragged her and Sophia into their terror campaign on you…despite the fact that she'd been at it for like six months before I was involved. Oh, heh, yeah, forgot to mention that they're considering charging them for domestic terrorism, ends up that…mess you were shoved into is being considered a biological weapon and lets just say that is going to make whatever charges stick against those bitches _very_ long term."

She was rambling, again, she always rambled when she visited Taylor.

Shaking her head she brought the mug of soup to Taylor's mouth and pressed it to her lips, "Anyway I brought you some soup, I hope you like tomato, added extra basil, dad grows it in his greenhouse and I always liked it so yeah."

As usual while Taylor didn't react she automatically drank whatever was placed before her, after a few minutes the mug was finished off and Madison placed it on the ground and stared at the girl with trepidation. She was silent for a time, she felt the tears gather at the corners of her eyes, then she finally let out her held back sob.

It was always like this, the only time she could really express her anguish over what she had done was when she was in the presence of her victim, and that wonderful misanthropy and genuine hatred for herself filled her veins with their venom.

"I….I'm so sorry Taylor…I just…I know I don't deserve any sort of absolution here I just…Fuck… I know I've told you this already but I was just… I was just playing a part, Sophia scared me but I get jocks, they're easy to manipulate, not all that much to work with and I thought I'd just have to do some stupid hazing bullshit against you a few times and be done with it. Emma though…that bitch is crazy, seriously she had this laser focus on you and when I realized how those two played off each others cruelty I was…I felt trapped."

Taking in a deep breath Madison laughed while shaking her head slowly, "And after all the shit we put you through you're in the hospital, Sophia is probably in Mexico or something, Emma is in the nut house and I'm being studiously ignored by authority figures for some reason. To top it off I'm a fucking Tinker, which took you, you know, _dying_ to be a thing… Damnit…Taylor…I'm sorry, I am so so sorry…"

She took Taylor's hand into her own and gently squeezed it, "I umm, I brought a book to read you, your dad mentioned that your mom used to make you read classical literature but I'm a closet geek and felt you needed to be properly cultured. This is Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it is totally my dad's fault that I love this book so much."

Madison read to her until the sun began setting, normally she wouldn't be bothered by that but this was Brockton Bay, you didn't take chances when you didn't have to and she was fairly certain Taylor would understand that. With that thought in mind she placed a slip of paper into the book as a marker and put it back in the bag with the half full thermos, standing up she squeezed Taylor's hand one more time while smiling sadly.

Her dad had never showed up, Madison was once again her only visitor.

"I have to get home, it's getting late, I'll…I'll talk to you tomorrow Taylor, sleep well and get better soon, please…"

Sighing Madison put her ear buds back in, decided to stick with Kpop, and she left the room while gently closing the door behind her as she began her trek home, which of course had to be made more complicated thanks to the wonders of public transportation.

Her bus was late, like a half hour late, and then it was rerouted to cover for another bus breaking down, and _that _made her miss her train, which was just…fucking amazing.

So, here she was, a fifteen year old girl in one of the shittiest cities in the country alone, in the dark, ten miles from home and nothing to protect herself with other than a can of pepper spray. She didn't even have any sort of tinkering gizmos to help her out, the only thing she'd managed to do with her unwanted power so far is destroy her dad's old VCR for parts and that meant she well and truly…well…

"I'm fucked."

Yup, that about summed it up.

Grasping her little can of pepper spray Madison took in a deep breath, nodded to herself, and began walking away from the train station back to the bus stop. There was a change off that would drop her around five miles from her house and while not ideal, it was better than hoofing it the entire way. It was the best choice for a shitty situation but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

She'd like to say that her walk back to the bus stop led her through well lit and heavily trafficked areas but yeah, no, that would make things not suck more for her so that wasn't a thing. Nope, she got busted street lamps, vacant lots, and some very sketchy looking men giving her appraising looks.

Fucking Brockton Bay…

She just kept trooping on until someone grabbed her arm which prompted her to let out a startled yelp as she was pulled into an alley and swung against the wall. Her head was not nearly as resilient as the bricks it slammed into and in her daze she managed to drop her pepper spray, blinking rapidly she looked up to see a man leering down at her while he tightened his grip on her arm.

"Heyya girly, bit dangerous to be walk'n round alone dontchya think?"

Madison stared at his jaundiced gaze for precisely two heart beats before her knee slammed up into the man's crotch and jerked out of his grip while scooping up her pepper spray.

"You fucking bit-AHHH!"

Yeah, enjoy the capsaicin creep.

Madison wasted no time sprinting away from the man now clawing at his eyes because she wasn't an idiot and didn't stop until her side was stitching and she was gasping for breath. Making sure she was alone she eventually leaned against a building while her body went through the wonders of an adrenaline crash all while coming to the realization she was still miles from her house.

Shaking her head she began walking home and came to a simple conclusion, she needed to tinker up a lightsaber out of that VCR.


	3. The Queen of Shadows Takes the Stage

**So last Madison exclusive chapter with Taylor's somewhat belated introduction, hope you all enjoy. Once again I cannot thank Temporal Knight enough for being an amazing sounding board and offering to help clean up several lines that I felt would otherwise be essentially unreadable, you rock. Anywho, while a bit shorter I decided to end this one on a high point leading to our lovely Queen of Escalation taking front stage.**

* * *

Nominally Madison didn't actually enjoy Coheed and Cambria as a band, tying their music to a highly convoluted and to be blunt confusing as hell comic book was just…weird. That being said some of their songs really got to her; quasi semi-orchestral undertones with appropriate guitar riffs accompanied by sufficient bass elements that had her head rocking all while keeping her focus on the project at hand were much appreciated..

They'd ended up on her shuffle for a reason after all.

As the smell of burning flux wafted past her nose while she moved the soldering iron away from the final circuit of her project, Madison couldn't help grinning as 'Welcome Home' wound down from her earbuds as she took in the sight of her creation.

It was done, she'd built her first Tinker-tech weapon and… nonono it wasn't done yet, she had to put it all together first, do _not_ assume that the metaphysical black boxing super science fuckery of Tinker-tech worked before you actually tried it. Many a dead client could be claimed from that short sightedness according to her admittedly limited contacts with Toybox via PHO.

Sighing Madison turned off the music, stuffed her earbuds back into her hoody pocket, and began assembling the project that had cost her poor dad a VCR, an outdated tablet, a blender, a security Maglite, and a secondhand overhead projector.

There was a salvage yard involved with that last bit and she was fairly certain she'd tipped her hand to her old man over it but…science must be done and he hadn't said anything implicating he knew what was going on when he saw her dragging the thing home so...

Shaking her head from further banal distractions she let the converted flashlight's last components click into place as she screwed the head down, and sighed in satisfaction as the resonating crystal aligned with the focusing lens.

After a moment of trepidation she double clicked the ignition button, and grinned.

With a distinct *SNAP-HISS* a meter long molten gold blade ignited from the hilt in her hand, the brilliant light casting shadows across the room and the only reaction Madison found appropriate at the moment was a near giddy, "Powers are complete bullshit."

That didn't mean she was not grinning like an idiot as she dragged her new blade's point across the garage floor, leaving a shallow smoldering furrow in the concrete before her in the process.

"Fucking. Awesome."

Wow, totally living up to her self-perceived superior intellect there… and fuck…her dad was so going to wonder where that small gash in the floor came from…still though…

The blade hummed as she swung it about and her grin only grew wider in the process as the shadows danced around her.

Still, she had made a lightsaber out of scrap, and that was just…

Her grin began to fade, and she quickly deactivated the lightsaber while running her free hand through her hair sighing slowly in the process.

Yeah, this was amazing and all that, but…still, Taylor had to literally die for her to have the ability to make this thing and… she was _not_ ok with that. Ruminating over her situation for a few minutes Madison decided to clean up her work space, polish up her first creation a bit, and soon prepared for her daily trip to the hospital.

Making sure her Converted Maglite of Doom (CMD!) was secure in her purse Madison went to the kitchen and began filling her thermos with the French onion soup she had left simmering on the stovetop. Humming to herself Madison let out a quiet 'Eep!' when her dad walked up behind her and grasped her shoulder while muttering, "Smells good."

Relaxing and letting out a huff Madison nodded slightly while turning back to the task at hand, "Yes it does dad and there is plenty left for you too, and yes I bought you some sour dough rolls to dip into it as well. They are in the basket above the microwave."

He smirked at that and nodded as he muttered, "You spoil me," before heading off to collect his bread and broth soon shuffling back to the living room, leaving Madison to stare down at her hands in contemplation as she muttered to herself.

"What's worse Taylor, your mom dying on the phone while talking with you, or her leaving your family behind for a younger man? I kinda get where my dad is coming from when he says adulting sucks… and…"

Clenching her fists Madison sighed, closed her eyes and _refused_ to cry before moving to seal up her thermos, snatching up a roll while spinning on her heel, and a moment later prowled towards the front door. Tossing her burdens into her beaten up backpack she stepped into the foyer and paused only long enough to fish out her earbuds, after screwing them in and tapping 'Shuffle' on her phone she moved to open the front door and readied herself to confront the real world yet again.

Madison felt the tension bleed from her nearly immediately as Mastodon's 'Oblivion' started sounding in her ears. She couldn't help smiling a bit; good music, completed tinker work, good soup...today was looking up. Snatching up her purse - and refusing to acknowledge the fact that she was actually _hoping _someone was dumb enough to start shit with her now that she had her new CMD (Patent Pending) - Madison bobbed her head with her music and made her way to the bus stop.

No one tried to talk to her today as she waited for her ride to arrive, this was a first and a quite welcome change. Seriously, any day that she didn't have to fake being a well adapted member of society was a good day.

Her bus weirdly enough arrived on time, and her ride to the hospital proved to be uneventful and soon she found herself going through the process of signing in. The nurse at the station glanced up at her and raised a questioning eyebrow, huh, was it out of curiosity or a desire to impersonate Teal'c and or Spock?

Madison had to actually stifle her own laughter at that last thought as she met the nurse's eyes evenly while stating, "Yes?"

The nurse shrugged as her gaze shifted back towards her computer monitor while muttering, "Nothing really, just the first time I've seen you smile since you've been visiting her."

Said smile faltered, fell, and died as Madison nodded slowly, "Yeah…ok…"

The nurse looked up in surprise, Madison's now despondent look causing obvious concern as she stuttered out, "Wait I-"

"It doesn't matter, have a good day," Madison muttered as she made her way to the elevator hoping beyond hope that this wasn't going to set the tone for her weekend. She chuckled mirthlessly at that thought as the elevator doors opened and she quickly entered while shaking her head slowly.

"Yeah…that'll happen…"

Honestly, being a realist sort of sucked, especially when you were consistently correct about shit you really didn't want to be.

Sighing she left the elevator soon entering Taylor's room and she smiled wanly at the vacant eyed girl as she spoke up, "Hey Taylor, today has been… a thing. Built a lightsaber if you can believe it, only just hitting me now that I really can't use it on anyone who isn't a Merchant since…who gives a shit about the Merchants and them getting dismembered after all? Oh, I made you French onion soup, it won't be the same without the cheese but it's still good how it is, just…oh damn what's the term…right! Less robust, heh, wow home ec was actually useful for once despite being chauvinistic as fuck…"

Shaking her head Madison drew her thermos out and filled the cap mug with soup, pressing it to Taylor's lips she smiled sadly as the other girl sipped it down, all while doing her best to not hate herself more for her part in this situation. A few minutes later she sat down and reached into her bag to draw out 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and cracked its cover while a brief smile brushed across her lips.

"I do believe we left off when Arthur and Ford hitched a ride, let's see here…"

She read, and despite what conventional logic told her she thought she saw Taylor react a few times as the corners of her just slightly too wide lips crooked up as she read off the misadventures of Arthur and Ford.

That kind of made it worth it, honestly…

Then the door opened causing her to pause her reading and she took in the tall man who entered the threshold with a quite unimpressed gaze.

He was very thin, had wispy hair that was leaning towards balding, a weak chin, and had a nervous gait as he walked into the room.

Madison stared at him coolly for a few moments before he finally noticed her.

"Oh. Madison. You're back."

Really? She had been here every day for the past week and….ugh…

"Mr. Hebert. You're...here. For once. Nice of you to show up, I am sure Taylor appreciates the effort."

He stared down at her blandly for a moment before slowly stating, "She is my daughter after all."

Madison couldn't help snorting at that, "Funny, you seemed to have a hard time remembering that she existed for the past few days. When was the last time you visited her?"

Growing annoyed Danny growled out, "I have been rather busy lately Madison."

She scoffed at that, "Busy with what? Getting drunk?"

Danny was actually angry now, "I don't see how you have any right to comment on the current situation considering that you were one of the people who put my daughter in here!"

Madison jumped to her feet sending her book to the floor as she glared up at the angered man from her very impressive 4'11" height, "Yes I did and I am trying to make up for that every fucking day! What are you doing?! You're abandoning her again and again and again! At least I'm _trying_ to do better! To be better! To do _something_! You're _never here and she's your daughter_! FUCK!"

She had not meant that last bit to sound so… angry…but it was… She sighed, and deflated, and Danny ran a hand through his hair and sighed before he glanced about the room.

"I…can't do this right now, I'll come back later when she's alone, good day, Miss Clements…"

"Good day Mister Hebert," Madison muttered as she picked up her dropped book, sat on her chair, and began shivering as the adrenaline left her system.

"Why are people such..._people!_? He was so…he was so…so…so!" she muttered this out as her genuine anger weaved in on itself, then much to her shock a tired chuckle echoed out from her right causing her to pause.

Snapping her head to the side she met the weary gaze of Taylor Hebert, who shot her a sad, exhausted smile, "Yeah… Dad can be like that when he is well and truly pissed off, the Hebert Rage is…a thing…"

Madison's throat ran dry as her eyes widened and her lips began to tremble, "Ta-Tay-Taylor? Yo-You're awake?"

She expected condemnation, revulsion, hatred, what she had not expected was for the waif of a young woman to spread her arms and mutter out, "Damn girl, you look like you need a hug, come here."

Madison jumped onto the bed, wrapped her arms around the near emaciated girl, and barely kept her shit together until the moment that Taylor returned the gesture and muttered a single sentence she had never expected to hear.

"Shh…It's alright, I get it, and I forgive you."

Madison froze for a moment, and then broke down crying into Taylor's shoulder.


	4. B-Side

**I had...so much trouble with this chapter, and it was only because Temporal Knight was unerringly patient with me that it got finished. It is short but it was sort of meant to be, this is Taylor being pulled into the game and the first step in her partnership with Madison. I am making no promises since my life is chaotic but I hope to have another, longer chapter ready for you guys later today. So while it is the shortest update thus far, I hope you all enjoy it, take care!**

* * *

The denizens on PHO talked about Trigger Events (capital letters intended, apparently) causing people to gain super powers with a bit of trepidation and a sense of veiled concern; no one who had experienced a Trigger Event wanted to discuss it with the unwashed masses and they tended to get a bit shirty if pressed on the subject.

The reason they did not wish to speak about said event was in all honesty rather simple; to gain a super power one had to experience the worst day of their life, survive it, and have the venom and vigor to make everyone responsible for said triggered super powered upgrade pay for it, be it present, abstract, or arbitrary.

Taylor Annette Hebert was different from most trigger victims since she blamed one person, and one person only for her Trigger Event.

Herself.

Causing her mother's death via a freaking cell phone call.

Alienating her best friend through her grief who she had…felt more than friendship for before being pushed away to the point that she had betrayed Taylor for a psychopathic jock's whims.

Stubbornly taking the years long hazing as she tried to avoid the fact that her dad was oblivious to her social problems, the school being complicit in her being bullied, and the student body just simply not caring about her, yet Taylor soldiered on all while praying that Emma would...come back to her.

Then all the torment had stopped.

Nearly a weeks' worth of peace, and it had been…not necessarily pleasant, more an unsettling calm before the storm, but the change was welcome.

The day before Christmas break Madison, the annoyingly cutesy member of the bitch trio that had been torturing Taylor bumped into her while muttering, "Watch where you're going nerd," while shoving a slip of paper into her palm.

Taylor simply stuffed it into her pocket and ignored it until she got home, readying her clothes for the washer she found the wadded piece of paper and on a whim unfolded it and it simply read _**'I am so sorry, I never wanted this,'**_and Taylor blinked in confusion.

Huh.

She ignored it, threw the paper away, and moved on.

Two weeks after a very awkward and bleak Christmas break spent with her dad Taylor returned to school with a hint of trepidation in her step.

This sense of trepidation continued on up to the point that she opened up her locker and was shoved into the enclosed space filled with rotting biological waste by an unseen _laughing_ force, and had the door slammed behind her.

Lucidity was...so…so overrated

It was in said enclosed space that Taylor experienced the worst moment in her life, she felt the insects crawling across her pale sensitive skin, skittering, chittering and biting as she vomited on herself and scrambled to find her way out of the bloody refuse when suddenly she saw…

_**EVERYTHING**_

Taylor panicked but she paused in mid motion as she saw every object that cast a shadow move across the Bay in near wonder, then she shuddered in horror.

She witnessed a group of merchants beating down an addict who owed them for his latest hit of a drug they themselves had forcibly hooked him on to before finally letting him free as he agreed to their 'deal'.

She witnessed a group of ABB thugs readying themselves to rape a young girl as her father watched in impotent horror, held back by the gangbangers present while they readied themselves to sample the struggling girl's flesh, pulling her father's arms to his side as he bucked back in forth in an effort to stop them.

She saw the Empire Eighty Eight drag a black man before a crucifix as they gathered containers of kerosene, all chanting about burning the sinner, burning the race traitors, immolating the unclean.

Taylor… well… She felt...things, about all these observations and...wished to...act on them.

To be the Hero, to...stop the horrors she was forced to witness.

_The shadows behind the ABB thugs shifted and rose out of the wall before collapsing back into their previous positions as the aforementioned thugs released the girl and ran in open fear. Simultaneously, the moving shadows cast on the ground by the torches of the E88 seemed to grow gnashing teeth momentarily before they too dissolved back into normal shadows causing the holders of said torches to drop them and jump back in fear, giving their victim just enough time to headbutt his captor and make a run for it. Partially formed eyes faded into the shadows surrounding the laughing Merchants, the palpable rage of their manifestation causing the druggies pause for a brief moment before they shrugged it off as jitters._

Taylor's fist clenched and her breath hitched as her heartbeat shuddered. There was nothing she could do though.

She could only watch. She was _forced_ to watch for days on end, she was forced to watch _everything._

Still, she tried to tune out the horror show that her expanded sight was gifting her and focus on something else.

Anything else.

Something...closer to home.

Something that was more...hopeful. She focused down instead on the fact that one of her tormentors grew a conscious and tried to atone for what she had done. That Madison's note before the break hadn't been a fluke, that she truly did feel repentance for her actions. That it had _meant_ something. That it had been a prelude to more. That she was _there_.

She had, after all been the one to call the paramedics that saved her life.

Taylor pushed down more and more of the detritus that was Brockton Bay, and the more she pushed down, the more she could focus on the fact that someone cared enough about her that they wasted their afternoons after school just to come and feed her soup and read her books while blasting their preferred music in the background.

Brockton Bay was loud and Brockton Bay was disturbing to watch. But...as more and more was shut out, it got easier and easier to remember why it was important to focus on the people who _hadn't left_.

Madison hadn't left her.

Then…then she was attacked by a nameless thug...

The shadows surrounding the ABB thug in question writhed as he toyed with the young girl before him crystalized Taylor's focus, then he was kneed in the dick, pepper sprayed, and left for the dogs to deal with.

_The shadows broiled and turned on themselves, snarling teeth and burning eyes reached out at the cursing man, wishing for nothing more than to sunder, dismember, devour the fool before them as they settled down while he fell on his backside pissing himself as he watched the writhing mass of __**Nothing **__before him churn about sneering at him._

Taylor couldn't help but laugh deprecatingly, thankfully there was no one around to notice said action.

She fell back into her silent observation, a small, a barely visible smirk on her face as she resumed silencing the rest of the city. Only a few more blocks left to quiet down now and maybe she could finally get some peace. Her work was nearly done when shouting in her room drew the remainder of her attention.

Her dad had been angry and Madison was cursing him out.

While it was...actually kind of nice to see someone else getting upset on her behalf for once, she _had _seen her dad arguing with the school, talking to the lawyers and even forcing meetings with the Mayor so...he probably hadn't really deserved it for this particular instance. Not that he had helped his case by refusing to explain and just walking away. That was...actually fairly typical for the two of them now...huh...another thing to work on.

Madison cut off her strangled half-yell, half-sob as she collapsed into the chair next to Taylor's bed. The surrounding noise finally quieted enough that Taylor smiled, let out a tired sigh and murmured, "Yeah… Dad can be like that when he is well and truly pissed off, the Hebert Rage is…a thing…"

Madison's stuttering reaction was almost heartbreaking, "Ta-Tay-Taylor? Yo-You're awake?"

Yes? She'd always been awake. She'd eaten the soup after all so hadn't Madison realized that? Though, in hindsight, remaining completely non-responsive probably didn't really show that she was awake very well. But how to explain that she had been seeing almost the entire city and concentrating on just one small section and tuning out the rest was hard? Did she even want to? This was Madison after all.

Fuck it, no one else had bothered to come to the hospital and Madison had Triggered too because of this shit show. Taylor would just tell her the truth. One friend was better than no friend and Madison had started trying even before things had blown up.

"Damn girl, you look like you need a hug, come here."

The brunette's tired blue eyes seemed to light up as she gave Taylor a watery smile, and jumped into her arms without question.

A small part of Taylor wanted to call her pathetic, the other, far more prominent part whispered out, "Shh…It's alright, I get it, and I forgive you."

As Madison dug her face into Taylor's shoulder and began sobbing uncontrollably, Taylor couldn't help smirking in relief, all while resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have to get used to heavy metal music.


	5. Being Young

**Takes place a couple weeks after last chapter, Madison has become a permenant member of the Hebert household and things are about to get interesting. Also, kids getting to be kids, how often does that happen in Worm?**

* * *

Madison was bobbing her head back and forth completely losing herself to the music flowing through her earbuds as she curled up in her seat as the bus hit yet another pothole, the only reason she noticed this was because it had coincided with her music's shift from heavy metal and or eighties rock towards something more contemporary, Mumford and Sons 'Little Lion Man' to be precise.

Madison mouthed along with the words spoken only to her, and she couldn't help feeling…something, as the words passed her lips.

"-was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line, I really fucked it up this time, didn't I, my dear?"

The bus came to a stop and Madison let out a sigh as she muttered, "Didn't I, my..."

Taking in a deep breath, she exited the bus and walked past the dilapidated buildings, broken sidewalks, and overgrown lawns of what had once been a respectable community.

Fucking Endbringers.

Fucking Leviathan.

Fucking Powers.

Fucking Scion.

Fuck all of them.

Grimacing as she did her best to force her jaw to stop gritting down painfully she made her way to the address hastily scribbled on the slip of paper in her hand, all while gripping the lightsaber in her purse tightly, fully intent on using it on any mother fucker stupid enough to get in her way.

"Tremble, little lion man, you'll never settle any of your scores…"

Thankfully she reached her destination without any trouble, and after sweeping a hand through her bangs Madison took in a deep breath and relaxed as she hopped up the steps, stopped at the doormat, and ringed the bell.

Madison continued to mutter to herself, "Your boldness stands alone among the wreck, now learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck"

She shifted about uncomfortably then froze as the door swung open, a tall man with a weak chin, large glasses, and an assessing gaze stared down at her before he nodded and took a step back while muttering, "Madison."

"Mister Hebert…" she stepped into the house and resisted the urge to shiver as he closed the door and only relaxed when he pointed towards a case of stairs, "Little Owl is on the right, second door."

"Thanks," she managed to shoot out, doing her best to remain civil despite the fact that she wasn't…feeling all that civil towards the older man.

She knew he was trying, really, truly. Taylor had made that very clear to her that her dad was doing his best to sue the school and had gone so far as to contact the mayor it was just…

Fuck.

"I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear…"

It was just too much of a mirror of the apathy her own dad had fallen into after the divorce, too solid of a reminder that she didn't matter to the woman that had _birthed_ her and was so useless that she wasn't enough to make her only caring parent remember she existed and-

As she reached the top of the steps thin arms wrapped around her and then she was pulled close to a warm body as quiet words were whispered past her ear, "Shush…none of that…"

Madison let out a sigh of relief as she leaned into the unexpected embrace, "Taylor…I…"

"Don't," she said with a laugh, "I get it, I-"

Madison broke from her embrace then threw her arms around Taylor while letting out a quiet sob, "You always get it… I…I hate it. Why, why does it have to be you?"

Taylor wrapped her arms around her friend, and held her for a time before letting out a tired sigh as she responded with, "Because I can handle it."

Madison was quiet as she wept into Taylor's shoulder, eventually she managed to gather herself enough to break away and stare up at the taller girl while whispering out, "I-"

Taylor placed a finger on her lips and smiled, "You didn't fuck things up, seriously. So how about Duck Hunt?"

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?"

Taylor laughed as she took Madison's hand and led her into her room, "Dad broke out his old NES and I figured that some inane gaming mixed with the excuse of enhancing eye/hand coordination would be a great way to waste an afternoon."

The taller girl stopped talking as she entered her room, and suddenly all the confidence and vigor she had been expressing died as she began wringing her hands together while muttering, "I mean…if you're ok with that…sort of thing that is…I mean I don't want to make assumptions and-"

She was interrupted by a pillow hitting her head, Madison smirked while pulling her earbuds out and placing them in her pocket while pointing at the controller she had placed on Taylor's bed, "No Duck Hunt, Mario 3, you're player two."

Taylor let out an undignified huff as she snatched up the controller and plopped down next to Madison while drawling out, "You're making _me_ be Luigi?"

Madison scoffed as she threw her hair over her shoulder with a jerk of her head, "Please, peasants are not meant to argue over their prearranged colour palette."

Taylor shot Madison an amused grin while raising a single brow, "You do realize what this means right?"

Madison smirked in turn, "No? What does this mean?"

Taylor hit start while her smile reached her eyes, "This means war."

The girls played Super Mario Brothers 3 well past when the sun had set, and it was the most fun Taylor had in nearly two years.

It was also the most fun Madison had…ever had, and when Taylor offered her the futon rather than going home, she accepted.

Though, there were some, complications.

"Seriously you've never watched Gojira before?"

Madison rolled her eyes as she rolled over to tap Taylor's shoulder, "No I have not watched Godzilla, I know it's a sin for any self-respecting monster movie lover but it just seemed tasteless with the whole…Endbringer thing."

"Go-ji-ra," Taylor over emphasized while pointing at the TV, "he is literally the king of monsters and if we had him on our side the Endbringers would be begging for a truce! Show some appreciation you plebian!"

Madison snorted at that, "Right, of course, I shall bow down to the might of Godzilla-"

"-Gojira!"

"-and show my proper appreciation towards his might." With that Madison threw a few chips on the floor while stating, "Oh mighty Godzilla, please do accept this pitiful offering and do spare myself and my family from your unending wrath, amen."

There was dead silence for a few moments, then Taylor broke out giggling.

Then there was a cough from the doorway, and both girls turned to see Danny standing their leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, his visage, highly amused.

"You do know that is going to attract ants right?"

Blushing brightly Madison scrambled to clean up the chips she had thrown on the floor while Taylor laughed, and damn it all she couldn't help but smile.

She chose to ignore the wisps of shadows that grasped the discarded chips and placed them in her hands for the time being…

She would sleep better that way.


	6. The Art of Predetermined Escalation

**Thanks to** **Temporal Knight** **for helping edit this thing, hope you enjoy the (I admit rather brief) introduction of Pride!Taylor and PseudoDoomSlayer!Madison as they perform the most holiest of tasks set forth by the great Mel Brooks in Spaceballs, 'The Search For More Money.'**

**An aside, yes, Madison is eventually going to have power armor that gives her a -1 Stranger rating because it is constantly belting out heavy metal as it casually ignores all incoming attacks via impenetrable hard light shields, Doom style. **

* * *

Taylor's return to Winslow had been greeted with next to no fanfare, it was still the same dilapidated building with its outdated computers, off yellow plastic chairs, and sun faded posters lining the walls. There were still packs of gang members roaming the halls, graffiti tags on the lockers, and a general sense of malaise permeating the atmosphere.

One thing that had changed though was having a companion walking at her side, one who was very dedicated to making this strange friendship work and that alone helped Taylor convince herself that this was real, that it wasn't going to end like things had with Emma.

She could hope so at least.

Navigating through the crowded halls the parahuman pair was catching the occasional sideways glance from their surrounding peers which really, wasn't all that surprising. Taylor Hebert the long running social pariah of Winslow had returned to the site of her near murder beside one of her former tormentors. The fact that neither of them carried themselves as they had before the incident probably helped with that a bit, their wardrobe change likely also had something to do with it as well.

Taylor used to try and hide herself in baggy sweatshirts and cargo pants, covering as much of her face as possible behind overly large glasses and a curtain of curly hair; while Madison wore cutesy frilly dresses with her hair up in tails that she all but admitted had been a shield to prevent appearing as a threat.

Now though Taylor wore skinny jeans, heavy combat style boots, a Miss Militia t-shirt and one of her mom's old denim jackets festooned with patches and buttons, her new contacts and long hair pulled into a loose ponytail showing off the fact that yeah, she was not hiding anymore.

Madison didn't bother with the cutesy look anymore, she didn't need nor want it and thus dressed in a simple black skirt and leggings, a baby doll cut Iron Maiden t-shirt, and a fashionable red jacket, her brown hair pulled back into a tight braid hanging over her shoulder.

Taylor found the change in her companion amusing, and as long as she didn't start wearing black lipstick and writing trashy poetry she wouldn't comment on it.

Returning to reality Taylor sighed as she tilted her head to the side while muttering to the shorter girl, "So any last minute major changes that I should be made aware of?"

Madison shook her head in reply, "Nope, you've already gotten the most important notes, Sophia and Emma are gone, Blackwell 'retired,' and the gangs are still at it, speaking of which…"

A group of junior E88 skinheads approached them and Taylor couldn't help but wonder if calling them Hitler Youth would be insulting or giving the idiots more credit than they deserved, a conundrum for sure. On one hand the original Nazi war machine had been quite efficient and effective before their glorious leader decided to start a two front war, and on the other hand these were the idiots who seemed to forget who had actually won the Second World War.

She really did not want to deal with them either way but their path was now blocked and unless she wanted to eviscerate them with writhing shadows in front of dozens of witnesses she really didn't have much choice in the matter.

Bother.

Sighing Taylor met the leader of the group's curious gaze as she dryly stated, "May I help you?" Madison had tensed up beside her and slowly slid her hand towards her purse which, while endearingly over protective, was a bad idea all things considered. They really needed to get her kitted out with a weapon that's only setting wasn't 'Hilarious Amounts of Dismemberment.'

"You came back," he stated in a quiet tone, Taylor raised a brow at that honestly a bit confused.

"Yes I did, quite observant of you."

He nodded slowly at that, "Well, good, can't let the lesser races think they can kick a white girl while she's down and not expect her to get back up again. Respect," and with that he and his cohorts moved on while Taylor felt her left eyebrow begin to twitch.

Madison for her part found her gaze following the retreating forms of the Fourth Reich wannabes then shot Taylor an incredulous look while flatly stating, "Did…did you just get Nazi approval for surviving Sophia's 'prank'?"

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head, then continued on to homeroom while Madison followed, "I…can we just, pretend that never happened? Please, that was just too surreal and…borderline offensive for me to keep in my long term memory."

Madison let out a brief amused snort then nodded, "Agreed."

As it stood the school day passed at a snail's pace, the classes were just about as useless as they had been before, and by lunchtime Taylor had come to a simple conclusion that many a teenager before her had stumbled upon.

That conclusion being quite succinctly put, school sucked.

Entering Winslow's characteristically dilapidated cafeteria Taylor plopped down beside Madison at one of the handful of nearly empty tables while dropping her book bag before her shortly followed with Taylor burying her face into it, quickly sending a muffled scream into the canvas sack.

Madison, who had otherwise been occupying herself with dubiously poking her school supplied mashed potatoes with her spork, all while fully expecting it to react with sapient aggression turned towards the new arrival. Observing her obviously angsting companion for a few moments she eventually sighed out loud while muttering, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Raising her head Taylor glared at nothing in particular as she seethed out, "It's all so….pointless! Useless! We are not learning anything here!"

Madison nodded slowly in response to that as she dropped her spork and gave up on her meal, which she was fairly certain was sending her a hateful glare as she turned back towards Taylor, "I can't be a proper sounding board for your frustrations on this one since I am in fact in complete agreement with you."

Taylor frowned, paused, took in a deep breath, let it out, then deflated and sighed as she opened her bag pulling out a pair of pita wraps and handed one to Madison who blinked down at her newly arrived bounty in surprise.

"Err…"

Taylor scoffed as she began unwrapping her own meal while dryly stating, "As if I'd let my only friend suffer the indirect insult of Winslow High's lunch menu. A sautéed chicken pita wrap with pico de gallo, spinach, and crumbled blue cheese with a light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Enjoy the bounty of Casa de Hebert."

Madison took a tentative bite out of her wrap, as the differing flavors combated each other while they lavished her tongue she couldn't help letting out a loud enough groan of satisfaction that she immediately felt a glowing blush that was red as a tomato spread across her cheeks, and when she glanced at her clearly pleased companion Taylor simply grinned knowingly while whispering, "Yup, that's the good stuff."

They ate in silence after that for a time, sated after she had finished her absolutely delicious wrap Madison patted her mouth with a napkin, folded her trash in the wraps foil, sipped her milk, then let out a sigh as she glanced towards her companion, "That was delicious."

Taylor smirked and nodded in acknowledgment, "Mom always knew how to make a feast out of next to nothing, one of the few 'girly' things we both learned to excel at considering dad always had a pretty simple palette. Swear the man could live off her lasagna and nothing else…"

Madison scoffed at that and they remained in comfortable silence for a time before she let out a tired sigh and muttered out, "I need to Tinker."

Taylor for her part tilted her head to the side shooting Madison a wry smirk while drawling out an amused, "Sounds kinky."

Madison sputtered a moment nearly choking on her carton of blandly chalky Winslow supplied 2% milk then punched Taylor's arm while sputtering out, "Bitch!" which only earned her a delighted cackle in return.

There was a comfortable silence, and then Taylor eventually spoke up, "So, we need to scavenge parts for you to fiddle with right?"

Madison nodded sullenly as she replied, "Yeah the problem with being a Tinker is that while we are incredibly dangerous, Armsmaster and Dragon are proof of concept on that by the by, we have a massive disadvantage when we first enter the cape scene. To put it simply we're targets, every gang wants a personal Tinker to trick their minions out with crazy gadgets and…it never ends well for the Tinker in question.

"Locally you just have to look at Squealer, she never wanted to be a drug addict whore enslaved by a junkie prick like Skidmark, I mean really who fucking would want _that_ to be their life goal? What she wanted doesn't matter though because he kidnapped her from her home in the dead of night, drugged her up, and now she is a Merchant; all while the Protectorate did nothing to save her from what is essentially enslavement."

"Anyone trying that with you would burn, simple as that," Taylor muttered near silently, though Madison heard it regardless and it made her feel…something warm.

Shaking her head Madison took in a deep breath as she dropped her gaze to the table before her soon shifting it back up to meet Taylor's now slightly glowing green gaze, "I'd rather _die _than suffer that sort of fate, I won't be some drugged out waste of flesh's tech whore, but I _have_ to tinker, it's like an itch really. If I search out parts to Tinker with, I'll draw attention to myself and…I don't know what to do…"

Taylor took her hand then, and grinned, "Well then, tonight, we're going shopping."

Madison felt a chill trill up her spine as the shadows along the walls swirled about for a moment before settling down, then she nodded in assent, "Yeah…lets go shopping, but first, we need money."

It would be a night Brockton would long remember.

* * *

Madison ran her thumb up and down her lightsaber hilt's length while eyeing the unwashed wastes of humanity riding the bus alongside her with a wary eye and not a bit of trepidation. The only thing keeping her from fidgeting was Taylor sitting beside her looking completely unconcerned by the fact they were being eyed by a bus full of gangbangers, every time one of them looked at the ravenette she simply returned their stare with a gimlet gaze and a rictus grin.

Oddly enough by the time they had reached their stop Taylor had managed to unsettle a bus full of ABB wannabes to the point they didn't follow the two teenage white girls stepping out into the ghetto without escort. Sighing Taylor pulled her balaclava on followed with pulling her hood up over it while cracking her head to the side marching forward with a purpose, Madison followed suit and chased after her companion who began twirling her fingers at seemingly random but…it wasn't random in the slightest.

"Light it up Mads, no time like the present to announce our arrival yeah?" While she couldn't see her face it was quite clear Taylor was smiling, and for the life of her Madison couldn't figure out why she was mirroring it as she ignited her lightsaber.

Golden light flooded the abandoned street, junkies, vagrants, vagabonds and the other varied detritus castoffs of a flagging civilization ran away while swearing, all as the brilliant beacon cast fathomless shadows that crawled along the buildings following the girls towards their destination. Roiling teeth and burning green eyes flickered in the oily blackness cast by Madison's blade, and she really had to do her best not to hyperventilate as her friend began giggling, her eyes now simmering with an unnatural green glow as more shadows gathered in their wake.

Approaching their destination Taylor pushed Madison behind her and with a flick of her wrist a tendril of shadow slammed through the front door sending dry rotted wood flying into the enclosed space. There was indignant yelps, and screams of pain. All followed with a nauseating wave of contaminated air rushing out of the now vented domicile, and even Taylor, who seemed to rather be 'in the zone,' gagged for a moment at the onrushing wave of body odor, alcohol, and drug sweat.

Shaking her head and coughing, the still grinning girl turned towards Madison while saying, "Hold her up high Mads, we are not going to hide ourselves tonight!"

Madison gulped, and raised her saber high all while her hand was shaking perceptibly, the dancing shadows filling the room writhed with angry eyes, hungry teeth, and anxious tentacles, Taylor for her part stepped into the building, took in the various junkies with an uncaring glare, then she laughed a moment before yelling out, "OY SKIDMARK! TRICK 'R TREAT!"


	7. A Pre-After Action Report

**Author's Note-I honestly considered not updating this with the absolutely toxic reaction I got to it from half my readers over at Spacebattles over fucking _Piggot_ of all the damn things but I've had several people asking that I publish the teaser chapter here despite me losing all desire to actually write the real deal. So whatever, from here on out is what I posted to SB, enjoy.**

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**The after action reports before the actual chapter always kind of amused me, because as the reader you're amused, all while wondering what the literal fuck happened between the lines, so enjoy, the actual chapter will be later this week.**

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Parahuman Response Team After Action Report #7948306  
First Response To Scene Agent Reporting: Sergeant Neil Blackstone  
Date-**REDACTED**  
Location-**REDACTED**  
Mission Parameters-Assess the cause and end result of the apparent full frontal assault and ultimate elimination of the criminal parahuman gang colloquially referred to as 'The Merchants'.

Notice From Colonel Alexander Deleon: (Commanding Officer of Brockton Bay's Parahuman Response Team) 'I want it to be noted before viewing further into this report that the newly minted Heroic Vigilantes that go by the names Umbra (Shaker shadow manipulator) and Beacon (Tinker, possible light manipulation abilities, definitive clarification still under review) were fully cooperative with first responder's and made an active effort to help local police and PRT elements arrest several members of the 'The Merchants' gang. Their cooperation and insight on this entire mess was beyond priceless and if I hear one more person bemoaning the fact that every cent of loose cash that should have been on scene was missing will have latrine duty for the next six months.

**Addendum: I am well aware that latrines are meant for the field rather than the office and the next person who brings it up is going to be reminded exactly how many restrooms the Rig and Headquarters has, do _not _try my patience here people.**

At 21:32 hours on **[REDACTED]** an anonymous call was put in to the BBPD Fourth Precinct reporting 'ominous noises' and what appeared to be explosions coming from the Northwest side of the Docks. At 21:56 hours Sergeant Neil Blackstone arrived on scene to find a manor home (5396 Lord's Lane) engulfed in flames and that several dozen people later to all be identified as members of 'The Merchants' gang restrained and writhing on the street suffering from what was best described by resident psychiatrists as 'Self Perpetuating Catatonic Horror'.

The only persons on site that where coherent and willing to cooperate were two young women, both masked and by body structure along with voice analysis assumed to be in their mid teens. The taller of the pair (around 5'10" and identified herself as Umbra) claimed that they had encountered 'The Merchants' by happenstance and after attempting to disengage from said gang were forced to subdue them after being assaulted without provocation.

**Addendum: It should be noted that her companion and likely partner (Identifying herself as Beacon) was suppressing the urge to break out laughing during her partners explanation.**

Her partner, a short young woman (4'10-11" who identified herself as Beacon) then explained how they had subdued the gang through trickery and the simple fact that their opponents were highly inebriated at the time.

In the end after the vigilantes intervention and elimination of 'The Merchants' the human factor result was:  
Kidnapped Women Rescued-9  
Base Line Human Merchants Arrested-48  
Parahuman Merchants Arrested-2  
Parahuman Merchants KIA-1

PRT Director Emily Piggot's After Action Report: **[REDACTED]**

**Addendum: Seriously Emily? You're really going to suggest the Birdcage as an option for a couple of teenage, _female _vigilantes who ended up killing Skidmark by what can only be described as an accidental Rube Goldberg Device? A human trafficking, drug peddling, pedophile rapist dies and you want to even suggest the option to send the underage heroes who defeated him to what amounts to Hell on Earth? I know you have your problems with parahumans but seriously woman pick your battles and remember that after this cluster**** to the rank and file, those girls aren't heroes, they're Heroes.**  
**-Colonel Alexander Deleon PRT**

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Edit-Piggot's response was [REDACTED] for a reason, knee jerk response that unfortunately for her the top PRT grunt still had access to it and wasn't happy about it. Eh...think I fumbled this one a bit...


	8. Terrible Things

**Direct copy from Spacebattles so the ire from the author's note isn't aimed at you all, please enjoy what amounted to an hours worth of writing, peace!**

**So, considering how many people lost their minds over absolutely fucking _nothing_ last chapter I didn't put my all into this one thus why it's so short. That aside, I like this story alot so I'm willing to give it a continued chance so please try to enjoy.**

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To truly understand the human minds inherent ability to process, accept, and then work around the species ingrained fear of that which lurks in the dark, at the very least enough so to remain relatively functional, one must understand what causes said fear to begin with. Most people when asked 'what truly scares you in the dead of the night?' will give superfluous answers ranging from anything to creepy sounds setting nerves on edge to the threat of werewolves which being blunt isn't such a long shot with parahumans being a thing if that is a malicious cape's shtick.

Also clowns, fuck clowns, ick.

Ask someone who actually understood fear though? Someone who lived through the worst moments of their life, survived it, and then was forced to watch the absolute lowest points of depravity humanity could reach for a week straight and come out of it sane if a bit warped and jaded from it? Well Taylor Hebert had her own personal thoughts on the matter.

True fear, the fear that shackled the heart, stole your breath away, and left you feeling weak and exposed was rather simply described as being hopelessly powerless.

It sounded simple, almost plebeian on the surface, but that really was the defining factor of shitting yourself terror, having absolutely no power to protect ones self from the unseen terrors that life in general tends to throw at you much less the reality of a truly traumatizing event. It's one of the reasons movies like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, and the like were popular, they were powerless against unyielding horrors, but the lead characters dug their heels in and said 'Fuck this shit if I'm going down I'm taking you with me mother fucker!'

It was riveting, terrifying, and inspiring, and people being people they always came back for more.

So, how does one convince a group of intoxicated idiots that they've reached their limit and stop coming back for more, to make them think that kidnapping young women, forcing them into sex slavery through bathtub brewed drugs just wasn't worth it? That this entire gang thing was in the long run detrimental to their well being?

The answer was simple.

Scare them to near death, and show no mercy.

With Madison at her side, her blades golden glow casting shadows across the detritus of Brockton Bay's denizens Taylor followed up her calling out the leader of the Merchants with a very concise, easy to process statement.

"Anyone who doesn't want their asses handed to them in a humiliating manner and would rather not spend the next ten years in prison, may I suggest running?"

With that the shadows around them exploded with glaring green eyes, grinning serrated teeth, and on a whim she had them begin whispering out 'Mary Had a Little Lamb.'

Madison went from nervous to amused as her shoulders shook lightly at that last bit, for the stoned out junkies they either went one of two routes, they ran which proved they still had functioning brain cells, or they charged her yelling incoherently in the process more often than not. Ah well, Darwinism at work, with a thought the shadows lashed out and as the tentacles and chains of darkness wrapped around the Merchants and they were all quickly entrapped, then much to Taylor's own surprise pulled into the darkest depths of the surrounding gloom.

Madison tilted her head to the side and muttered, "Uh...what?"

Taylor was more or less in agreement with her friend as she tried to process what her power had just done, then blinked in shock as she figured it out, "Umm...Apparently I have shadow supplied hammer space but...I think...oh dear... We should finish this up quickly they're all still conscious and completely incapable of moving while going through full sensory deprivation...that...can't be good.

Her companion shuddered as she adjusted the grip on her blade then quickly nodded, "Yeah, lets just...get this over with."

As they walked deeper into the building Taylor couldn't help noticing the dilapidated finery of the manor; at one point this had been a place of power and elegance, the home of a public official or a well off business man, reduced to nothing more than a hovel for the dregs of society. Fitting in a sick way, the very definition of what remained of a dying society, we were once grand, now see what we have become.

It made her sick, yet oddly also inspired her to try to return her city to its former grandeur.

Thoughts for another day.

Moving on they encountered more merchants and they were taken out with equal ease as to the ones they encountered in the foyer, though several shadow blades did shoot out to destroy various weapons, ranging from poorly maintained pistols, to knives, baseball bats, and broken beer bottles.

Then someone did something incredibly stupid, they attacked Madison.

A construct comprised of whatever garbage it could find slammed through the wall and slapped Madison to the ground, she let out a yelp of pain but rather then giving into it she slashed out with her burning gold blade and cut it's right hand of while bellowing, "FUCK YOU!"

Atta girl.

Taylor glared at the hulking form that had to be Mush and growled out, "I am giving you one chance and one chance only, surrender now or be prepared to endure a nightmare world of which you will never recover from, where I will torment you to the point of madness and then leave your pathetic, broken body for the cops to deal with, your choice."

Mush stared at her a moment, then swung his left hand down to crush Madison who was thus wrapped in shadows and drawn back to Taylor's side who for her part sneered out, "I hope you like nightmare worlds."

Madison raised her blade in a shaky hand and the shadows firmed up around them, then Taylor smiled as literal hundreds of tentacles shot out and tore the construct apart in seconds, walking forward she slid on one of her grandfather's old heirlooms that hadn't seen use since the second world war and proceeded to repeatedly punch Mush in the face with Papa Charlie's knuckleduster. Once the Merchant cape stopped moving Taylor wiped the blood off the brass knuckle on his shirt, stuffed it back into her pocket, and then absorbed his comatose form into her shadows with the rest of the still terrified gangsters stuck in her own personal purgatory.

Moving on they sort of went through a rinse and repeat process, most of the Merchants were, to the last, completely strung out on something and thus didn't put up much of a fight. Eventually Madison asked what Taylor had been thinking for the past few minutes which was kind of a relief for her because this was verging on the line of ridiculousness.

"Ok...how the hell are these guys still in operation? I mean...shit...give me access to some decent computers, a few Erector Sets and medical grade sedatives and I could have taken these idiots out in a week on my own."

Taylor just shook her head while muttering, "Mads I have no idea and I have no counter argument considering I'm in full agreement."

Madison frowned and whispered back, "We really should have chosen cape names before we did this."

Yeah...whoops, Taylor glanced back the shorter girl then smirked, "well how about Beacon for you? It fits, light in the dark and all that, plus you keep me centered so yeah."

Madison scoffed in return, "Cheesy much? How about you? Your power is sort of an absence of light, how about Void?"

Taylor shuddered, "Ever lurk on PHO? The hell was his user name... void cowboy? I really don't want to be compared to him."

Madison's nosed scrunched up as she made a noise of disgust, "Yeah...right...err...how about Umbra? Deepest part of a shadow?"

Taylor shrugged at that, "Works for me, and oh hey looks like we've reached the main event."

Madison and Taylor entered a room that at one point must have looked extravagant, her time spent with her dad on various construction and demolition jobs told her that the floor had once been highly polished oak, the walls had been lined with mirrors and expensive wallpaper, and at one point a chandelier had been the centerpiece to a series of directed wall sconces. Now though the floor was uneven and broken, the wallpaper long ago yellowed pealing off the walls, the chandelier now resting on the floor, and every mirror in the room shattered.

Taylor could not help cringing at the sight of the corpse of elegance displayed before her, what a travesty...

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Glancing up at the balcony Taylor took in the visage of a man she could only assume was Skidmark.

He was black, which really didn't mean a fucking thing to her since hey, she wasn't E88 after all, gangly, which was very much not her thing, and quite obviously intoxicated as he bellowed out, "You fucking cum slut whores don't know what you fucking got yerselves into! I'mm fuck you bitches up so bad that ain't no one gonna wanna have anything to do with your asses!"

Taylor cocked her head to the side a moment, then muttered, "Ma-Beacon...what did he just say?"

Madison smirked slightly while whispering, "I am a bad bad man who needs to be punished Old Testament style."

Taylor perked up at that, "Oh! Well I shouldn't disappoint the audience should I?"

Her companion shook her head ruefully, "Would be a detriment to your reputation Umbra."

Giggling Taylor called upon the shadows as countless glowering green eyes and gritting serrated teeth appeared from the darkness, "Welp, time to make absolutely _terrible _things happen."


	9. Interlude: Emily

**ATTENTION!**

**I have absolutely NO idea what the hell the formatting issue for this chapter was, so I deleted it and reposted, sorry everyone I once again have no idea what the hell that was about. Oh and the guy who was complaining about not know who Alexander was, he's the guy who was making all the ****addendum's**** in the after action report chapter.**

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**Wrote this during a bout of insomnia while listening to Heize, probably not what you wanted, but I really needed to stomp the bullshit toxic asshats complaints into the ground with **_**logic.**_

**For those of you who are sane, enjoy!**

**I'm not bitter at all towards Spacebattles, really.**

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Wrote this during a bout of insomnia while listening to Heize, probably not what you wanted, but I really needed to stomp the bullshit toxic asshats complaints into the ground with _logic._

For those of you who are sane, enjoy!

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Many who had the misfortune of interacting with an agitated Emily Piggot would describe her as a driven woman who could at the best of times be called dedicatedly implacable, the more honest would go insofar to call her an irritatingly hardliner bitch. Her former comrade, who she had more or less cajoled into becoming the head of the ENE division of the PRT ground force was of the latter group; and god damn it all if she wasn't chagrined over his editing the current situation report in such a manner that it demanded a face to face interaction.

The problem was he had gone silent after calling her out, leaving a message with his secretary that he was going to The Rig and to hold all his calls, thus Emily had to go to _him_ for an answer. Anyone, absolutely _anyone_ else she would automatically assume this was a sort of power play, but…

This was Xander…and he wouldn't lead the Lady along like this unless there was a reason for it; the man who dragged her battered body out of Ellisburg was far too irritated by behind the scenes manipulations for that sort of thing. So after straightening out the current parahuman idiocy dropped onto her desk, namely Glory Girl destroying another road to stop a minor mugging _again_, (Ha! Fuck you Carol you irritating control freak try lawyering your bulldozer of a daughter out of thirty seven separate recorded camera angles this time!) Emily logged out of her computer and stood as she grabbed her cane.

Grimacing as she stood up the muscular blonde pulled what one of her troopers called a 'House' look as she began walking towards the buildings exit, all while trying to ignore the spasm that went up her bad left leg every time her cane was extended.

Fuck you Nilbog.

After a short elevator ride she made her way to the ground floor and quickly passed through the lobby to stand under the veranda for a few moments before a car pulled up beside her. Suppressing a sigh she ignored the agent that opened the passenger door for her and entered the vehicle, which near instantly began moving along towards the Rainbow Road towards The Rig.

It was, oddly enough, one of the few parahuman innovations that hadn't annoyed Emily. She had always loved Mario Kart though she would never admit it, it was a great game and Nintendo giving the destruction of Kyushu the finger by continuing on in Seattle struck a chord with her.

She sighed at that, she was ruminating too much, not a good thing for a PRT director. You start dwelling on things and you would not stop until the coffee ran out. Then you had to deal with which ever over worked bureaucrat ended up in the sights of your proverbial double barreled shotgun while going through withdrawal.

Amusing to see them panic, not so amusing that due to said panic you had to pick up _their_ work alongside your own while they huddled in the showers muttering to themselves.

Fucking hell shooting idiots for being idiots was so much simpler than this bullshit.

The car eventually passed over The Rainbow Road and once on The Rig Emily stepped out and cracked her head to the side while muttering, "Well…this ought to be relatively stupid…"

Walking forward and showing growing signs of irritation as her cane slid across the slick surface of the repurposed oil rig she eventually made her way to the elevator, and after a short ride found herself facing a shiny metal hall. The troopers remained silent for a time, then eventually one of them muttered out, "He isn't doing so well ma'am you may wish to hurry along."

Well, wasn't that ominous?

Sighing Emily casually patted her skirt suit while plodding forward to make sure her sidearm was in place all while following the troopers down the brightly lit corridor. Eventually they made their way to a door and peeled off marching away in a rather dramatic fashion…wasteful but not her problem. As the door slid aside Emily entered the conference room and took in the visage of her longtime friend and companion as he was staring down at the tablet before him with a scowl on his face.

"Why so serious?" She drawled this out in a monotone while her friend snapped his head up at her and grinned widely as he responded in kind.

"Oh you know, duties of an officer, making sure my best friend doesn't accidently bite off more than she can chew while dealing with her past. Oh! I'm also trying my best to placate an Eldritch Horror that can see everything and everyone within the bay in so long as there isn't a great expanse of water mucking up her _complete and utter control of all shadows within a twenty mile radius."_

Emily's eyes widened as she accepted the drink from Colonel Alexander Deleon and sat down with a look of shocked horror on her face, sipping from her drink she could only mutter one word.

"What?"

The silver haired man leaned against his desk and sighed as he ran hand over his mustache before muttering out, "You weren't wrong, Umbra is a continuous threat to Operational Security, but…fuck… Ems… She doesn't mean us any harm, hell she wants to meet you and explain why she did what she did… She's a kid and wants to make it clear she and her bitchy partner are heroes… So when I saw your report I panicked and got rather…"

"You were somewhat superfluous in your reprisal? Ok…that makes sense… Alright… Fine…so we're safe from her right now?"

Xander shrugged, "I believe so but to quote Beacon, _'Powers are complete and utter bullshit,'_ and I can't help but agree. My suggestion, invite them to meet us at HQ with…hmm…Assault and Battery, then introduce them to the Wards. Going by their dispositions I'd suggest Miss Militia would be the best bet for a tour guide, honestly I think she and Umbra would catch on like a house on fire, Beacon would follow because…eh… nevermind, I'm not getting into psychoanalysis at this point.

Emily sighed then nodded, "So what about Armsmaster?"

Colonel Deleon's eyes widened as he quickly shot out, "Don't let him within thirty feet of Umbra, she'll….just don't."

Well…wasn't that ominous….

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**Yes, Alexander Deleon's existence means that Emily Piggot is significantly less damaged than in canon and is far more likely to fall back on sass and sarcasm rather than spite. Madison will honestly have a chance of getting along with her because of that. Misanthropes unite.**

**Taylor though doesn't care, if Madison and Danny are okay at the end of the day, the PRT can pathetically not do their jobs to their hearts content.**


	10. Dealing With Dads

**I had fun writing this, the lovely Lady Lily Anne helped of course. I need to sleep... ENJOY!**

**MASSIVE EDIT:  
I have no fucking idea what is going on here, I updated Altered Paths and...it updated a bunch of shit that unrelated... I am not making excuses, yet I gotta say, I have no FUCKING IDEA what is going on.**

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Madison didn't want to do this, yet she had to honestly admit it was necessary despite however much she really didn't want to drag her dad into her recent… extracurricular activities. Still, Taylor was right, they could not just keep slinking off in the middle of the night and hope that their parents wouldn't notice, as the saying goes every bum finds a nickel and it would just be their luck that they'd get called out at the worst possible moment.

She scoffed at that little bit of insight for a moment, Taylor _had _quite blandly stated, "Don't tempt Murphy and his law, he is an asshole with a sense of humor and we should do everything in our power to avoid the prick."

Still she was distracting herself, she needed to get her dad into gear and she didn't have the time to ruminate on how she could otherwise handle the situation despite wanting to do exactly that. Taking in a deep breath she entered the living room and took in the image of her dad while trying not to feel a sense of pity for the bedraggled man.

Wavy brown hair that was beginning to thin, an overgrown beard, potbelly from too much beer sticking out from his otherwise lanky frame, and a look of resigned abject sadness in his blue eyes as he watched the television while popping potato chips into his mouth.

Fuck did she ever hate her mother for doing this to him; it didn't help the depression she felt at all times other than when Taylor was around to drag her out of her slumps…

FOCUS MADISON!

"Dad, can we talk?" He blinked and shifted as he turned his head to meet her gaze and it warmed her heart to see some life spark in him when he took in the image of her plainly dressed visage.

"Sure honey, what's up?"

Closing her eyes she eventually let out a sigh then smiled sweetly at him, she was quite sure it didn't reach her eyes.

"I'd like you to come with me to my friend's house, there's something I…we need to talk to you about with Taylor and her dad."

He cocked his head to the side and raised his brows slightly while placing his bag of chips on the sideboard, "Alright, when?"

Madison smiled at the quick acceptance and swiftly replied with, "Five tomorrow night, she's making dinner so we don't have to worry about eating."

Her dad shot her an odd, bemused look as he smiled in return, "All right, that sounds fine honey, and I'll do my best to not embarrass you."

Blushing slightly Madison nodded and turned away not noticing the highly amused grin that took over her dad's visage as she walked away.

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Taylor approached her dad and did her best to reign in her shadows as she nervously spoke up, "Dad, can we talk?"

Danny adjusted his glasses as he turned away from the documents that had been consuming his attention and took in his daughter's visage with interest. She looked so much like Annette that it hurt, but that roiling fury, that abject rage at the injustices of the world surrounding her boiling behind those jade green eyes all but promising to do the wrong things for the right reasons…

Yeah, that was pure Hebert.

Then she surprised him in a manner that forced him not to smile, and or break out laughing.

Shifting about slightly Taylor took in a deep breath then let it out while quickly stating, "My friend Madison and her dad are coming over tomorrow night so we can talk about, well…things. Is that all right?"

Danny had to resist the urge to laugh as her cheeks darkened slightly. Well, like mother like daughter.

"That shouldn't be a problem kiddo, what was your dinner plan?

As he had hoped for Taylor relaxed and pulled a folder from…where the hell did that come from? You know what whatever, it didn't matter, and she quickly opened it up.

"Well Mads isn't a fan of beef and while her dad is Muslim she's like…err…not…ish? I seriously have no idea how to address that considering grandma was Jewish and I honestly don't adhere to anything they believe in since mom was Methodist like grandpa. Plus I like hotdogs so…yeah whatever… We're just not letting pork be anywhere near the menu despite the fact that bacon is sacrosanct, n-"

Danny interrupted his daughter with bellyaching laughter which in turn caused her to huff in annoyance as she crossed her arms and began tapping her foot, expressing all the annoyance a fifteen year old girl could in a single glare.

It made him laugh harder.

Reining his mirth in Danny eventually managed to gasp out, "I'm sorry, really just, oh god you sounded so much like Annette when she got frazzled there that I couldn't help laughing."

Taylor's stern visage softened as she nodded slowly while a smile crawled its way up her expressive lips, "Yeah, I can see that… Something simple, lemon baked chicken and stuffing was my idea. Nothing fancy but it tastes good and is filling."

Danny smiled and nodded, "Sounds like a plan kiddo, I'll look forward to it."

Crisis averted, Taylor turned around and walked away not noticing the fact that Danny was covering his mouth doing his best to not break out laughing over his daughter's attempt to soft sell him on the fact she had girlfriend.

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Arriving at the Hebert's home Madison took in a deep breath and quickly nodded to herself, this would work out...it had to.

Her dad stepped out of the battered and used SUV as Madison quickly followed him to the front door.

Clicking the button for the doorbell they waited for roughly three seconds before the door was swung open and a rather harried looking Taylor greeted them with a disingenuous smile.

Ah shit.

"Hey you're here!" Taylor stated with wild eyes, and promptly grabbed Madison by her hand and pulled her into the house while flatly stating, "Mister Clements please follow me dinner is almost ready!" Madison could barely keep up with the taller girl who looked...unsettled.

"Taylor what the hell is going on? I thought we both agreed to come clean to our dad's about...us..."

Taylor blushed at that and muttered out, "Yeah..."

Her partner pushed her into a seat at the kitchen table and quickly grabbed several platters and placed them before her guests as her dad leaned against the counter in amusement. Eventually when everything was settled and all were seated Taylor took Madison's hand and held it tightly before her brunette partner spoke up.

"Dad, Mister Hebert, Taylor and I have something we need to tell you..."

Their dad's exchanged glances, then let out tired sighs as Madison's dad, Rick, drawled out "It really isn't a secret we get it, we've been talking about it for the past week."

Madison blinked once then tilted her head to the side, "Wait, what?"

Danny shook his head slowly and smiled slightly as he met both girls eyes, "Little Owl honestly I don't care that you're in a lesbian relationship. Did you really have to make it such an ordeal or did you think I would disapprove?"

Madison froze sputtered and turned to Taylor who met her gaze evenly before shrugging, of course she would just roll with it.

Madison sat there for less then five seconds, then she kissed Taylor briefly before turning back to their dads, "I could do worse. Now...the actual reason we're meeting and...Taylor stop looking so smug..."


	11. So Where Do We Go From Here?

**Insomnia, though I admit I did enjoy Taylor's brief moments of being an Eldritch Horror. Short, yes, but hey, some of us have to work fifty hours a week, so enjoy, and have a great week.**

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Madison found it mildly amusing that she and Taylor's dads handled their non-existent, now apparently existent, lesbian relationship better than they did the fact that both their daughters were capes. She tilted her head back glancing up at her…girlfriend? Yeah, she figured she could call Taylor her girlfriend now going by the fact that she was holding Madison on her lap with her fingers laced in her own as her thumbs worried circles on Taylor's palms. Taking in their surroundings the Hebert living room housed a rather comfy love seat but Taylor's warmth and strong arms were comfier, and holy shit did that sound cheesy as hell?

Dad and Danny were still heatedly discussing things and Madison finally had enough as she muttered out, "The hells are they even talking about at this point? We're capes, we're gay, we're gay capes dating, enough said."

It sounded petulant sure but still, they'd been at it for ten minutes and she was getting annoyed, Taylor placed her lips next to her ear and replied as a breath of heated air brushed across her face.

She did not blush, thank you very much.

"They've been talking about us being a couple all week and worked themselves up to accept it, you surprised them both by making the first move by the by. Being capes changes things; the gay thing only put us in danger with the E88, the super powers thing? It scares the shit out them because we're now in danger from pretty much every gang. You especially, since you're a Tinker and we all know that song and dance when it comes to Tinkers and gangs."

Madison shuddered as she burrowed deeper into Taylor's grasp, "You wouldn't let them take me, would you?"

Taylor released her hands then wrapped her arms around her as the shadows grew eyes and fanged mouths while they whispered out, "_**THEY WOULD HAVE TO TEAR YOU FROM MY COLD DEAD ARMS MADS."**_

Madison shivered in delight at the resolve of that terrifying crescendo, and smiled when Taylor kissed her cheek, which made things better as they continued to wait on their dads.

Eventually both overwhelmed and tired middle aged men sat down across from the girls, and it wasn't hard for Madison to notice the wry smirk they shot each other as they took in the image of their daughters cuddling.

It took everything in her willpower to not stick her tongue out at them; all while trying to ignore the fact that Taylor's chest shook for a few moments as she stifled a laugh.

Bitch.

Taylor shifted a bit as Madison realized she had muttered that out loud, her girlfriend simply snorted a laugh and kissed her cheek again, Madison _did_ blush at that, damn it.

"So…I'm going to assume that the Wards are out?"

Dad stated this as if it was just a cursory probe, she couldn't help scoffing at it.

"To quote some very eloquent underprivileged young men dad, _fuck_ the police."

Her girlfriend chuckled at that while nodding her head slowly, "Daughter of a Lustrum lieutenant, I don't trust anyone who makes more money than I do who also has a metaphorical authority boner. The Wards are not happening since we like our freedom and we're able to keep it since they don't know who we are, take advantage where we have it you know?"

Danny snorted in obvious amusement at that, "Christ, it's like Annette 2.0, are you sure this is what you want Little Owl? There is only so much I can do to protect you and…I just…I can't lose you too."

Taylor froze and Madison was able to side eye a painful grimace crossing the ravenette's face as she whispered out, "Maybe?"

Dad twirled his hand in a 'continue' motion that had always irritated her; it was one of those irrational pet peeves she'd inherited from her mother that Madison very much tried to ignore to the best of her ability, not going to give that bitch credit for anything.

Taylor's grip around her tightened a bit before she finally muttered out, "I…dad you have to understand that my power? It's caused me to be pretty much desensitized to everything, period. I know every dirty little secret in this city, I know _far_ too much about the sexual kinks of most its denizens, and I know how utterly, completely, and totally corrupt the inner workings of the government are."

Her girlfriend let out a tired sigh, and shook her head sending ebony curls flailing, Madison took one loose lock in hand and began twirling it around her fingers, Taylor shot her an amused smile before continuing on.

"I...want to do good, for the city, for us, for everyone. I just don't think I can do that with government restrictions, and the Youth Guard breathing down our necks, not yet anyway, I mean…just…ugh…Mads?"

She smiled at that, Taylor was the plotter, the strategist, but Madison was the tactician, and if she got to show off her intellect to her and her girlfriend's dads well…

"Becoming Wards we would have to basically give up all of our sovereignty, they own our names, they own our costumes, they dictate what powers we can use, and hold the Sword of Damocles above our heads if we ever step out of line. Obey, or suffer, and…well…neither Taylor nor I are really good at handling the whole 'Obey me or else,' mentality with anything less than indignant spite."

"Just like Annette," Danny muttered, dad let a light snort out at that.

"Also," she continued on, "Taylor's powers aren't exactly what you would call public relations friendly…"

Their dads stared at them a few moments and Madison sighed as she broke a now indignant Taylor grasp, stood up, reached into her purse and drew out her lightsaber while igniting the golden blade. Thankfully Taylor was a smart one and took the hint, the shadows extended out with tentacles, blades, and chains while the glaring green eyes pulsed and the fanged mouths spoke out.

"_**I AM HONESTLY MORBIDLY CURIOUS TO SEE HOW THEY COULD SPIN THIS INTO SOMETHING FAMILY FRIENDLY."**_

Deactivating her blade while tossing the hilt back into her bag Madison curled back up in Taylor's lap as her girlfriend wrapped her arms around her waist pulling her close, their dads were now muttering to each other and before she could try and listen in on them she felt her phone vibrate. Shifting about so she didn't have to break Taylor's embrace Madison managed to fish her phone out of her pocket, open the email from PHO, and blinked in surprise.

"What is is it Mads?" Taylor asked in a light tone, Madison for her part tilted her head to the said and let out ambivalent, 'huh' before replying.

"Apparently we're invited to the PRT headquarters for a meet and greet with their leadership this Thursday…"

Danny summed up the collective thought process with a rather succinct, "What?!"

Madison just shook her head while she muttered out, "Just another day in the bay..."

Taylor kissed her cheek again, and she smiled in a somewhat bland manner, but that was okay, the meaning behind it held true.

No matter what she knew she would be safe, she just hoped the feds realized how far Taylor was willing to escalate things to protect those she cared about...


	12. Gearing Up

**You guessed it, insomnia, I'll have to re-edit this when I'm not sleep deprived but I'm happy with what I've managed, please enjoy my hour of sleeplessness induced muse.**

**Edit: Oh Madison's goggles resemble Tracer's, for those that care.**

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Madison was hovering over her workbench in her dad's garage, soldering iron in hand as she continued to tinker with her newest, and quite simply put _coolest_ inventions yet. She muttered equations to herself while her girlfriend lounged on the old couch her dad kept in the corner singing along to the radio seemingly content to just be part of the background noise.

It had been like this since yesterday, when they had somewhat inadvertently become a couple, something Madison wasn't quite curtain what to think about for sure. She hadn't _thought_ she was attracted to girls before she had gained her powers, but on that note did she ever even humor the thought of being gay in a city with the largest Neo-Nazi presence in the country? Self-preservation said no, even if she swung that way would she be willing to silently admit it to herself while attending school at Winslow?

The unofficial Hitler Youth recruitment center with almost no proper supervision by adult authorities?

Yeah, that would be a hard pass, kay, thanks, bye.

Nonetheless she found herself to be in a relationship with a girl she had previously tormented, who had forgiven her, and was now for all intents and purposes dedicated to protecting her, was exceedingly loyal, and gave incredibly satisfying cuddles.

Life was exceedingly unpredictable like that.

Taylor eventually stopped singing and spoke up in her typically blasé tone, "So what exactly are you working on?"

Madison paused, then went back to work on her creations as she replied, "Three things at once, a HUD equipped set of goggles meant to control and monitor the hard light drones linked to it, and a…well… a very PR insensitive multivariable light spectrum pistol."

Taylor stopped kicking her feet in the air, rolled off the couch, and padded over to Madison as she stared down at the half finished pieces with an amused smile gracing her visage.

"You want to show off when we visit the Protectorate, don't you?"

It had been a heavy discussion, but both they and their dads agreed that hearing the local PRT and Protectorate out was if nothing else, good for their image with the feds to show that they were cooperative at the very least.

Madison sputtered for a moment before replying, "Psh, no, of course not! I just want them to take me seriously, and you know, Armsmaster might find it impressive what I've pulled off in such a short time with limited resources…"

Taylor stared at her for a time before she broke out giggling; it was so out of character that Madison actually turned away from the project at hand and met her girlfriends gaze evenly.

"What's so funny Tay?'

Taylor, still giggling, shouted out, "SENPAI NOTICE ME!"

Madison blanched, then blushed, then turned away as she hunched back over her projects, "I hate you, seriously."

Taylor wrapped her arms around her waist, leaned down to her ear, and whispered, "Oh really?"

Then she kissed her cheek and released her as she flounced back to the couch and landed on it without any show of grace as she continued to sing with the radio. This left Madison blushing furiously as she redoubled her efforts on the weapon before her to ignore the fact that this…thing was now a thing.

Hormones, she blamed hormones.

There was a comfortable silence for a time, and eventually Madison let out a tired sigh as she spun her chair around to address Taylor directly, "Are you as worried about this meeting as I am?

Taylor stopped singing, sat up properly, and then tilted her head to the side as her face took up a contemplative visage, "Yes, and no."

"How very helpful," Madison replied dryly.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she replied, "I am not afraid of them directly, I'm worried about the image we present, let's be honest here Mads, we're scary. We aren't a group trigger, but we _did_ trigger within minutes of each other. We don't have to deal with any of the psychotic bullshit Mouse Protector and Ravager do, but…I think our powers are symbiotic rather than stretching us to emotional extremes…"

Madison turned back to the bench and began soldering the last wires of her pistols light variation module as she sighed out her reply, "I think you're right about our powers being symbiotic, not any of that cluster trigger bullshit."

Taylor's response was a simple, "Oh?"

Madison sighed as she slapped the module into the pistol's casing and then went about assembling the outer body while nodding slowly, "Yeah, you my dear are for all intents and purposes, an Eldritch Horror made reality."

"True," Taylor said with a nod and a smile, a nod and a smile echoed from the eyes and teeth of the shadows surrounding her.

"I am a squishy tinker who needs to be protected, who also happens to have a light projection specialization and is currently dating the Mistress of Shadows. You keep me safe, I provide you with the source of your powers…"

There was silence for a few minutes, and then eventually Madison let out a sigh as she turned her head to look over her shoulder towards Taylor who had a rather despondent look about her.

"Taylor, I'm not saying you're using me or I am using you, I'm saying we perfectly support each other and that alone is going to make the PRT nervous. We need each other, so they try that whole 'divide and conquer,' bullshit on us to force us to sign up for the Wards it won't work."

Taylor sighed as she lay back down on the couch muttering, "Which means we took a tool out of their box right from the get go and they may be more…assertive than if otherwise."

Madison snorted at that while taking her screwdriver to the pistol twisting in the last of the screws to make it complete, "Eh, fuck the police."

"Quite eloquent, alth-"

Madison interrupted her there with a vexed his, "NO! No more flouting the fact that your mom was a literature professor making you sound far more intellectual than you actually are."

Taylor replied with a pout, "Hey that isn't necessarily fair."

Madison rolled her eyes at that as she lifted up her completed pistol and spun it cowboy style as she met Taylor's gaze evenly.

"Spaceballs, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and every Earth Aleph mecha anime you can think of are your top cues on Netflix."

Taylor sat up and actually blushed at that, saving face she muttered, "There's a bunch of old monster movies on there too…."

Madison rolled her eyes at the while replying with, "Yes yes, Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla a-"

Taylor interrupted her with an indignant, "Gojira!"

Rather than continue that old argument Madison presented her pistol to her girlfriend who took the weapon in hand and looked it over with a curious gaze. Eventually she noticed a side lever that was likely a setting gauge and quickly asked, "What's this?"

Madison took the pistol back, grinned, then flipped the switch in question, "First setting is _STUN, _second setting is _PENETRATE, _and then there is the last setting."

Taylor was well aware this was a dramatic set up, so she just smiled and indulged her girlfriend as she asked, "And what is the last setting?"

Flicking the switch the light emitting from the pistol shifted from a calm gold to smoldering red as she smirked and pointed at an unseen target in the distance.

"Oh that's simple hon, it's _FUCK YOU. _Not you Tay, I mean whoever I'm pointing this wonderful bitch at._"_

Well…this was certainly something Taylor had to see for herself.


	13. Making Nice With The Authorities

**Bridging chapter, I have unfortunately not had a lot of motivation to write while being under quarantine for this covid insanity. Don't worry I'm fine and have like three weeks of sick leave saved up but being stuck in the house is legitimately driving me nuts. Anywho, there is a few Easter eggs hidden in this one so do enjoy, oh and yes Taylor really does have control issues over her power when she is taken out of her happy place, it'll be a thing.**

**Also a shout out to Temporal Knight for beta'ing this chapter, it wouldn't have been finished otherwise.**

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Madison resisted the urge to laugh as her girlfriend let out an aggravated sigh staring at a Protectorate themed chess set of all things while their dads exchanged amused glances. It was easy to tell despite their facial features being hidden behind the plain paper masks they were all wearing; a staple of the Protectorate headquarters lobby courtesy of the gift shop which they were all currently occupants of.

"What's wrong hon?" She asked barely suppressing her amusement before taking a step back as her more terrifying half gritted her teeth, clenched her fists and took in several sharp breaths before snarling out a reply that had both of their dads and Madison pause midstep.

"They. Are. So. LOUD."

Madison froze and turned towards Taylor as she adjusted the holstered laser pistol and Maglite saber hilt resting on her hips suddenly feeling a chill run down her spine as she whispered out, "Who is loud Tay?"

Taylor grunted as her hand flopped to her side, the aborted attempt to adjust the paper mask around glasses she no longer wore only drawing further frustration. She met Madison's gaze and her eyes began to glow slightly while she spoke in a low voice almost approaching a growl.

"_Everyone_! Normally it's just us and our dads nearby, so I'm able to keep it down, narrow my focus. But here it's just...so, so _much noise_!" Madison stepped forward and pulled her girlfriend into a hug and didn't bother to hide the sigh she let out as she held Taylor close, then took a step back as she offered her earbuds .

"Madison, no, I…I can't. I'll just-"

Madison stood on her tiptoes lifting her mask as well as Taylor's and kissed her, then quickly jammed the earbuds into place shooting her a wan smile while hitting the play button on her phone, taking Taylor by the hand and dragging her on.

Danny was silent for a moment as Madison and Taylor passed him. She heard him sidle closer to her dad and murmur, "It took me two years to figure that one out with Annette, your girl is a sharp one."

Her dad only laughed in reply.

They continued to meander around the lobby viewing the various display cases for a time before Taylor finally seemed to relax and hesitantly removed the earbuds, sliding them into Madison's hand a moment later.

The silence that followed was a bit stifling, so Madison bit the bullet and asked, "Tay, why was this different than school?"

Taylor remained quiet, though she did take Madison's hand, threading her fingers through hers and squeezing with a firm, yet tender grip. Their appointment with the Protectorate seriously needed to hurry the fuck up because this was really getting-

"I think it's because my power is on edge around so many parahumans. It sounds silly but it's the only thing I can think of. With you my power knows I'm safe, and since I'm with you you'll be safe, and while I can essentially lash out at anyone I want at any time it's always from a distance. With so many capes concentrated in the same place my shadows are jittery, waiting for an attack that won't come but listening for it regardless without my input."

Madison squeezed her girlfriends hand while shooting her a concerned look, "Oh Tay…"

Taylor returned the squeeze and while her face was covered Madison liked to believe she had given her one of her rare smiles as she did so. Madison pulled on Taylor's hand nearly forcing the taller brunette to step forward and drag her into a hug. Even as Taylor started to relax against her, Madison glared at one of the jerks who had wandered closer during their quiet talk and was staring at the two girls. Her glare didn't yield a reaction, yet when she lifted her mask just enough to expose her bared teeth the idiot blanched and quickly pivoted on his heel, striding away into a different corner of the shop.

"So which one of us should these guys be afraid of again," Taylor murmured into her shoulder as her back shook with soft laughter.

Madison felt her face heat up and she pulled away from Taylor. "Shut up. I'm not scary, I'm _cute_."

"Yes. You are indeed adorable, hon."

She preened at that a bit, it was always nice to have a confirmation, and then she paused as a thought struck her.

"So," Madison asked, "what about the Merchants then?"

At that Taylor actually snorted, "What about them? Squealer was stoned out of her mind and passed out, poor woman, Mush was, well… A speed bump, and Skidmark killed himself by accident, they weren't a threat to you…for long anyway."

That…made something click in Madison's mind, their dads paused as well as she released her girlfriend's hand and stepped before her giving the taller teen a sharp look as her eyes narrowed, "Tay…"

"What?"

"Every Merchant we captured was arrested - well mentally traumatized, but physically safe – every one of them but Mush and Skidmark."

Taylor tilted her head to the side at that, "Oh? That's rather interesting now isn't it?"

Madison mentally winced at the return of the blasé tone. Taylor's mask shifted aside enough to display a small smirk, which all but answered her unspoken question well enough. Maybe she'd have to have a talk with her girlfriend about being overprotective...But then again, it was sweet how Taylor had gone Vengeful Angel before she had even been actually seriously threatened.

Her thoughts were then interrupted with, "Yes, it is."

Both girls froze briefly, then as one they turned around and stared up to meet Armsmaster's visored gaze.

To their death beds both would refuse to admit they both hopped up and down while they let out delighted squees at the sight of the armored hero, and their dads would tease them for years over it regardless of the fact that it had _not_ happened.

Armsmaster stared at them a few more moments, then seemed to relax as he tilted his head to the side as if listening to a radio, then promptly locked gazes with Madison, "You are armed with Tinker-tech."

It was not a question, rather a statement.

"Ye-yes sir! I didn't know if you would be meeting with us but I wanted to show off what I made."

"She wanted to impress her senpai," Taylor stated dryly as Madison shot her a dirty glare while their dads stifled their laughter.

Assholes, the lot of them, though Armsmaster seemed intrigued as he ran his gaze up and down her body causing Madison to blush. Taylor for her part froze at that and she quickly stepped forward as the shadows around her began growling as chains and blades began forming.

"See something you like?"

The fact that the room echoed this with a deep snarl as green eyes began glowing in the shadows causing everyone in the room to freeze in open fear was completely ignored by the hero before them.

"Yes, your companion's armaments are crude, but my scans show they are also well made and I wish to further examine them and…"

He paused, and then winced as he once again tilted his head to the side clearly listening to someone berating him; dropping his shoulders a moment later while turning back to the girls he continued on in a resigned tone.

"I have just been informed my observation of your tech could appear to be inappropriate due to our age difference causing my interest to be towards your physical body rather than your tech and thus 'creepy.' I wish to extend my apologies for this misunderstanding and to request that Umbra releases her hold on the PRT agents of this facility so they may resume their duties."

Taylor stepped forward and growled out, "And _what_ is wrong with her body?!"

Armsmaster stared at her a moment before grinding out, "I have no idea how to proceed and to not make this situation worse."

There was dead silence, the dads were standing back content to let this train wreck play out, Madison was wide eyed stunned at being the focus of _Armsmaster_, and Taylor was her Vengeful Angel self for a few moments more before relaxing letting out an amused snort.

"Is it time for our meeting with the director?"

Armsmaster nodded stiffly while gesturing towards the door, "Yes, unfortunately protocol dictates that your first meeting is between the director and the capes in question. Do not worry nothing will be signed in the interim that will be considered legally binding; it is simply a…meet and greet."

Madison turned towards her dad and Taylor did the same, both lanky men stared at them a few moments before nodding.

"I'll be waiting for you kiddo," Danny stated towards Taylor.

"I'll be waiting for you little one," her dad said while shifting his mask about uncomfortably.

That was that, Madison took Taylor's hand in her own and followed Armsmaster to the elevator.

Leading the two teens through the halls after exiting the elevator Armsmaster eventually sighed and spoke up, "I was not supposed to be your introduction to the Protectorate."

Madison blinked at that, "Errr, what?"

"Colonel Deleon stated that Armsmaster had the interpersonal skills of a sleep deprived cabbage and should be kept away from us at all costs," Taylor drawled out blithely.

Armsmaster gritted his teeth a moment, then shook his head in resignation, "Young miss I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't so casually flaunt your ability to disregard the Protectorate's operational security. That being said, he is, unfortunately not _wrong _per say_._ I oftentimes find people are difficult to deal with"

Madison blinked at that before responding with, "Then why are you here?"

There was more uncomfortable silence, and then he eventually growled out, "I wanted to meet the Bay's newest Tinker, assess her skills, and try to talk her into joining the Wards."

Madison's cheeks warmed a bit while Taylor shot her a glance, "I umm, I didn't realize I warranted that sort of attention from a hero."

"My attention towards you being warranted has yet to be seen, I am hoping you will impress me later on when we can Tinker together." He paused a moment then sighed, "…I was just informed that my wording could also be considered 'creepy.' Rest assured my interest in you is purely professional, that being said this is the Director's office antechamber, so I shall excuse myself for the time being."

He marched off and it took roughly thirty seconds for Taylor to eventually drawl out, "I do believe that is the most socially awkward man I have ever met in my life."

Madison could not disagree.

"You really have no idea," a new voice stated as a tall man in a PRT officer's uniform stepped before them, his rather impressive mustache twitching in annoyance as he observed Armsmaster's retreating form while letting out a tired sigh. Shaking his head he extended his hand towards them while pearly white teeth were exposed in a winning smile, "A pleasure to meet you again, Beacon, Umbra."

Madison shook his hand as Taylor followed suit while replying, "Colonel Deleon the pleasure is ours."

The older man snorted as he rolled his eyes and motioned for the girls to follow him, "Please call me Xander, while I am a professional in the field I find formalities in a relaxed environment to be a bit on the pointless side. That being said when you meet the director show her respect but don't be submissive, she may or may not relax with you but being polite and honest will do wonders. That being said, miss Beacon I'm going to have to confiscate your weapons for the duration of the meeting, and yes I am very aware of how pointless that is considering what your partner is capable of. Policy and all that."

Madison exchanged glances with Taylor who for her part shrugged in a 'what can you do?' manner. She wasn't happy with turning her toys over but…well in for a penny and all that, and placed her equipment in an offered tray that was put into a locker that beeped when closed. The colonel pulled an electronic keycard from the locker and handed it to Madison while winking at her playfully, "Don't worry kiddo you'll get your shinies back after the meeting."

Taking the keycard in hand Madison tilted her head to the side staring at the colonel a few moments before blurting out, "Do you have a Tinker-tech eye?"

_Then_ she blanched, covered her mouth and blushed brightly as Taylor shook her head letting out an amused snort, the colonel for his part actually laughed a bit while tapping said eye lightly.

"Good eye there, and yeah, benefits of being one of the best field officers in the PRT. Word of advice to avoid bodily disfigurement, don't get into CQC situations with super charged doomsday priests. It…doesn't end well for us squishy types."

Taylor finally spoke up at that sounding genuinely curious, "Does that happen often with the PRT?"

The colonel looked bemused as if remembering bittersweet memories, "Nah, that was before I enlisted, still we're making the director wait on us so shall we move on?"

Nodding the girls followed and as he opened the door he made a grand sweep of his hand and stated, "Beacon, Umbra, may I present you with the Director of the Parahuman Response Team East North East, Emily Piggot."

Standing before a window overlooking the bay was a muscular woman leaning on a cane, she turned around and Madison's first thought was that she could be charitably called handsome. That wasn't what drew her attention though, she wasn't sure if it was her stoic visage or calm aura of confidence or how her calculating gaze never left her, but one thing became very clear to Madison.

This was not a woman you fucked with lightly.

"Ladies," she stated flatly, "a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Beside her Taylor let out a light chuckle while muttering out, "Oh…this is going to be interesting."

Madison, despite her self-doubts, could not help but agree.


	14. Putting Your Cards on the Table

**I present to you all a unicorn for sure, a introspective and reasonable Director Emily Piggot, do enjoy.**

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"It is a pleasure to meet you ma'am," Beacon said with a slight bow, Umbra for her part tilted her head to the side and stared at Emily for several moments too long to be polite but startled as her companion gently elbowed her in the ribs.

"Err, sorry director, your stance just reminded me of my grandmother and I sort of got…nostalgic I guess."

Beacon sighed while Emily raised a brow, "Oh?"

Umbra shifted her foot around a moment then firmed up her back as the shadows around her swirled, "Yeah, no one messed with Grandma Penny, and those that did told the tale of why it was a terrible idea to do so after they got out of the hospital. It's amazing what a shotgun and rock salt can do to deter vandals."

There was silence a for a moment, then Umbra shrugged as she continued, "I'm a dock girl, raised by a dock union rep and a former Lustrum lieutenant, who most of their parents were raised in the docks as well. Both my grandfather's fought in the Second World War, Grandma Penny survived Auschwitz, and Grandma Mary kept Grandpa Charlie in check for decades which is…saying something with his alcoholism. What I'm trying to get at is I know when to respect someone who is willing to keep playing a losing game until she rolls a hard six, and lets be honest here keeping the balance in the bay is a losing game."

That…was oddly endearing, and Emily didn't really know how to address it other than gesturing towards the vacant chairs before her desk while stating, "Yes…well then do take a seat please."

The girls sat down and almost immediately were holding hands, so the security footage observations were correct, lovely, parahuman teenage lesbian lovers, and one of them was a Tinker, that would end well with the E88.

"So Xander informed me that it was best to just get down to brass tacks with you two, so I'll be blunt you're on our radar due to the fact that you wiped out the Merchants in less than an hour and their leader ended up dead. Care to explain what happened?"

Beacon spoke up and asked, "Are we on the record, as in being recorded?" The fact that she was looking at Umbra when she asked this was of course worrisome, but Emily decided to ignore it and replied in kind.

"No, this is just between us, a courtesy if you will for two new heroes who are doing their best to be cooperative."

The girls exchanged a look, then Umbra sighed as she eventually spoke up, "Beacon needed money and supplies for tinkering. We're both too young to get jobs that would actually pay out what we needed and neither of us was willing to go villain as a shortcut. So we more or less asked ourselves a rather simple question."

"Who can we knock over that has what we want, and wouldn't piss off enough people that there would be a target on our backs," Beacon finished for her.

"So naturally we picked the Merchants, so there we were minding our own business…"

After the pair of heroes ran through their encounter and following defeat of the Merchants Emily just stared at the young women before her, and felt a modicum of respect for them as neither flinched under her gaze.

If half her people had the backbone of these girls...Except girls with backbone rarely triggered and wanted to become heroes, most taking the more practical and profitable route of a villainess; not even mentioning the very likely PTSD they would be enduring after said trigger event. She needed to find a carrot to entice them towards the Wards. They would be far too dangerous out on the streets of Brockton Bay on their own.

For everyone involved, especially themselves.

"So... Mush attacked Beacon directly, leading you to decide to instill some gentlemanly manners in him."

Umbra nodded while coldly replying with, "Manually, ma'am."

Emily steepled her fingers while doing her best not to smirk at that response, this girl...

"And Skidmark, a man who is a known pedophile, rapist, murderer, drug trafficker, and has a previous history of kidnapping Tinkers and drugging them up to the gills just to use them until they are burnt up...was the _singular _casualty."

Umbra nodded again, her cold tone taking on a note of dry humour, "He should not have hit himself with a chandelier, ma'am."

Emily sighed and resisted the urge to rub her temples as she leaned back into her chair, "I see, well if this is the way you two handle idiots like the Merchants, I am gravely concerned about what you will end up doing to the E88 when and if they decide to come for Beacon."

Umbra shrugged. "Nothing will happen to them; if they leave us alone."

Then Beacon smirked as she took Umbra's hand back into her own, "And if they don't? Who gives a shit, they're Nazis."

Emily didn't have a rejoinder for that one. It was _extremely _annoying how she sometimes - just sometimes - fully agreed with parahumans.

Letting out a sigh her chair creaked as she leaned forward and shook her head, "Very well, this has been…informative. Beacon, Armsmaster has asked that you meet him outside my office to explain your gear to him, I'd like to have a word with your partner alone as you do so if I may?"

They exchanged a glance, then Umbra muttered, "We'll be fine hon, have fun with your autistic senpai."

The corner of Emily's lips almost lifted up as Beacon gave her girlfriend the finger then excused herself from the room. As the door closed Emily met Umbra's gaze evenly then stated, "You gave away quite a bit of personal information there young lady, why?"

Umbra stared at Emily for damn near thirty seconds before finally letting out a sigh while removing her mask, the girl underneath was…a bit plain, but cute in that girl next door way.

"Because in your unredacted report you were absolutely right that I was a potential threat to operational security, and while I appreciate the colonel trying to cover your collective asses from my potential wrath I…. I agree with you that if I went black hat the best thing you guys should do is throw me in the Birdcage."

That…what?

She shook her head and continued on, "Powers are bullshit to begin with, my power set? It's bullshit squared and to be blunt downright unsettling. I see _everything_ that casts a shadow unless I force it down, I can strike anywhere in the city I want to from the comfort of my home, I can drag people into a realm of shadows and hold them there indefinitely.

"I. Am. Terrifying. So that being said, I came to a decision, if you were straight with us, didn't bug the room, and didn't jump to conclusions, I'd come clean to you and only you. This is my own version of the Endbringer Accords, I am a threat to OPSEC, I can flip the board at any time I want because I know the civilian identities of every cape in the city, and you need a solid guarantee that I won't stab you in the back."

Her eyes then began to glow with an ethereal light, "Well here it is, I love my dad, I love my girlfriend, and I will never do anything to put either of them in danger with my actions. So, director Piggot my name is Taylor Hebert, a pleasure to meet you. Oh, and thanks for throwing that psychopathic murderous bitch Sophia in juvie, that was highly amusing."

Emily stared at the girl for a few moments, and could only manage to state a stunned, "Huh…"


	15. Senpai Noticed Me!

**Once again thanks to Temporal Knight for betaing the first half of this chapter, his help is as always greatly appreciated. I wanted this chapter to lead back to Emily and Taylor having tea and just ranting about the idiocy of how the Bay was treated by the upper ups but honestly...this was just more fun, enjoy!**

* * *

Madison walked down the sterile halls of the PRT headquarters beside Armsmaster and couldn't quite shrug off the awkward silence that permeated the air around them. Eventually she decided that despite being in the presence of her favorite hero this was a bit ridiculous.

"She was messing with you, you know that right?"

Armsmaster was silent for a moment, and then stiffly responded with, "Who are you referring to?"

Oh this was going to be…so much fun.

"Umbra, she is…well honestly _extremely_ over protective of me, _but_ she really was just yanking your chain, so really, please don't take anything she said at face value. She was just screwing with you and well, very likely flirting with and or teasing me, can't really decide which it was; damned blasé attitude…. Anyway don't take it too much to heart, alright?"

More awkward silence, "I see."

Madison winced internally; no he probably did _not_ if their previous discussion was any proof, but moving on.

"Right… so where exactly are we going?"

"What you would call my public lab," Armsmaster replied. "The one that is allowed to be seen on tours and the like, please ignore the unnecessary bubbling beakers by the way, PR insisted on it for reasons that evade me. I have another more extensive and efficient lab on the Rig for security intensive projects that houses some of my more refined tools, yet this one will suffice for today's purposes."

She was going to Armsmaster's lab.

Madison was being escorted by _Armsmaster_ to his _lab_!

She was very impressed by the fact that she wasn't giggling like a lunatic. Huzzah for self-control!

Before she could respond to that they stopped before a door that looked like it should be on the Enterprise-D, it slid aside after Armsmaster swiped a keycard over the reader, and the rooms now exposed contents made her eyes widen in glee.

Benches of tools, half finished projects, glass encased prototypes, and parts.

So so many unused parts!

Madison darted into the lab and picked up a piece that to the layman would just be junk and started twisting it about as she examined it, "Oh this is so cool! The capacitors are aligned in a manner that would allow them to all receive the same amount of power at once instead of acting like a simple series circuit but also bypassing the flaws of a parallel one. This is a self perpetuating oscillation dynamo charger isn't it?"

Armsmaster actually smiled lightly at that and responded with a hint of respect, "Yes, I attach them to my motorcycle's wheels to save any wasted energy on patrols for later."

Madison did not squee, she didn't, really.

"That is so fucking _efficient! _Err…sorry sir, _freaking_ efficient._"_

She didn't know it, but that statement right there put her in the hero's good books for the long haul.

"Yes, yes it is, but that is beside the point, we are here to test out your kit if you are willing."

Hell the fuck yes she was willing! This was Armsmaster and he had her in his own lab to perform tests on _her_ inventions and this was so fucking _awesome!_

Ok, ok, be cool Mads, what would Taylor do?

…

Ok what would _dad_ do?

She took in a deep breath, and then smiled, "What would you like to test first?"

When she presented the Maglite Saber to him Armsmaster seemed unimpressed, then he double clicked the activation button and nearly dropped it as the meter long golden blade extended forth.

"Yeah…I really should have warned you about that. That one is on me," Madison opined, Armsmaster though was staring at the glowing blade in wonder.

"It is…beautiful… What spectrum does it operate on?"

Madison scowled at that, what, did he think she was a plebeian?

"It's the same as all of my creations; it oscillates along the entire light spectrum and locks on to the most effective one for the task at hand. Just like my death ray. Though my hardlight projectors are giving me a bit of a hard time I will admit."

"That is very impressive and, hold on you made a Death ray? Wait nevermind that, hardlight projectors?"

Madison nodded emphatically in return, "Yeah, both of our dads are dorks so they convinced us to have drones projections be Nega-Version's of the local Protectorate Heroes; so there has been a bit of convoluted coding involved making them look right. Honestly as much as I hate to admit it, it leaves my head spinning at times."

Armsmaster froze up, and then turned to look at Madison, "Nega-Versions?"

She let out a chuckle in embarrassment at his scrutiny then managed to mutter out, "The projections all have goatees, Miss Militia's is drawn on her scarf with a sharpie, and have abilities similar to their own. Or as well as I can copy it at the very least, it is after all still in the prototype stage."

Armsmaster was quiet for a time then asked, "This was not meant to be an insult to the Protectorate, was it?"

Madison nearly face faulted at that, "NO! No we just wanted to make something memorable that would be clearly showing we were with the good guys but that we also had a sense of humor. The drones that house the projections are all going to be controlled from the HUD in my visor and meant to simulate the real thing. They're kind of going to be a stop gap until I can build a suit of power armor, dad says he can help me convert an old auto repair garage for that but it'll take a bit of time…"

She was babbling, dammit Madison stop babbling!

Eventually Armsmaster asked, "What projection did you have planned for me, seeing as I already have a beard?"

She turned tomato red as she braced herself before replying, "Umbra came up with it actually, Nega-Armsmaster has surgically removed all of his body hair to become more effectively aerodynamic. His face is _unnaturally_ smooth."

Dead silence, then much to her surprise Armsmaster let out a light chuckle as he picked up her death ray while shaking his head, "The thought had occurred to me once before oddly enough."

Madison blinked at that, "Wait, really?"

Examining the pistol in his hand he let out a 'mmhmm' before turning back to her, "Please keep in mind I had been awake for 72 hours and was on a blend of over caffeinated coffee that would likely kill a household pet at the time. That aside, yes, the thought had occurred, anything else I should know about Umbra's opinion of me?"

Madison slipped up, and wanted to bitch slap herself the second she began speaking, "Well she calls you my autistic senpai and…crap…"

Armsmaster froze up, then met Madison's gaze evenly, "I do not advertise my…_condition_ openly, I assume it was through her pervasive control of shadows she discovered it?"

Wait, what the fuck?

"Uh…I can only assume sir…you aren't angry about it?"

"Was she being derisive when she stated it?"

"Umm...no not really, she was more or less teasing me about fan girling about the fact my favorite hero was interested in my inventions. Umbra rarely gets malicious unless there is a threat to me and or bullies are involved, then the gloves come off."

Armsmaster nodded at that as he played with the setting switch on the death ray, "Then there is no harm in it. I am aware of my faults and I have had to work twice as hard as my colleagues to reach the position I am in because of them. Yes I am autistic, but I am also the leader of the ENE Protectorate, apprenticed by Hero himself, nationally recognized as one of the greatest Tinkers in the nation, and I am even a collaborator and friend of Dragon, who I know you are well aware, is the greatest Tinker in the world. I am very proud of what I have accomplished so no, I take no offense of your girlfriend teasing you about being excited that I have taken interest in you."

Madison couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief as she nodded, "Oh, good, that's good I'm glad to hear it sir."

A moment later the far back wall slid aside and soon several pedestals extended out from the floor, their displays holding things like steel plates, blocks of ice, various composites and one very nervous looking chicken.

"So moving on, while the 'stun' and 'penetrate' settings are rather self explanatory I am very curious about this 'fuck you' setting. Would you be averse to allowing me to test it out?"

Madison grinned as she resisted the urge to squee…_again_.

"Not at all sir, just be sure not miss it can make a bit of a mess."

"Oh?"

She nodded quickly adding, "It causes a photonic resonance molecular bond failure on the target in question, more or less reducing it into its base elements, it can get a bit messy honestly."

Armsmaster eyed the pistol in hand then glanced at the chicken, "Hmm…interesting…"


	16. The PRT Is More Amusing Than I Thought

**This was inspired by a near literal moment of being mindbogglingly bored and I just wrote till my 12 year old nephew showed up with his dad and asked me what happens when you mix brake fluid and chlorine tablets, youtube said it was awesome. Which, admittedly had me grinning like an idiot while stating, "WELL~! You remember when we made thermite out of that ground up _[REDACTED] _and _[REDACTED]_? It is _nothing_ like that, but it's just as awesome and we can pull it off without the cops getting called on us!"**

**Afterwords I was bitched out by his mom, very annoying.**

**I am a terrible influence on tomorrows youth, I am apologizing for _nothing._**

**On to the story!**

**NOTE! Piggot has a bad leg in this story, she isn't on the precipice of dying from kidney failure so she has more of a sense of humor than not since Xander keeps her head above water when she is about to drown in politics.**

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Taylor was currently walking beside the Director of the Parahuman Response Team East North East, namely one Emily Piggot, with a PRT supplied domino mask shadowing her visage while she was getting the stoic woman beside her to snort in faint amusement as she carried on with her anecdote, hand gestures and all part of the package.

"I'm not joking, he really did go on for thirty minutes straight, completely oblivious to the fact that both Beacon and I were listening to our headphones not even recognizing that he was there much less paying attention to him. Honesty set to on and not making shit up to have a better story here, not once did we acknowledge that he was there much less bothering to add anything to the conversation. It was..."

"Amusing yet depressing?" The older woman interjected, Taylor for her part could only nod in agreement.

"Yes exactly! It was one of those sad little moments that you didn't want to be right about something but you totally were and you just didn't know what to do about it, and the only person you wanted to share the ridiculousness with was your girlfriend who was _there _so you're just kinda left staring at Greg hoping he sees something shiny and gets distracted enough to wander away like the unhousebroken puppy that he is."

As it turns out, the only person to get the regularly laconic and emotionally indifferent girl known by her hero name 'Umbra' to become the chatterbox that had once been known only as Taylor Hebert, was the cynically bureaucratic Emily Piggot, and she was now pouring on the schadenfreude.

"So I'm guessing at that point he asked you out?"

Umbra grinned and nodded, "Yeah, we didn't even time it but in that super awkward thirty seconds Beacon pulled her ear buds out, kissed me, and asked if we could get coffee. Not only was Greg standing there gaping, but she had kissed me and spoke right in front of a group of Nazis!"

The director chuckled at that a moment then shook her head, "Well...what happened then?"

Taylor snorted while drawling out, "I grabbed her by the hand and ran away while all the boys were blue screening. There is playing to the audience, and playing with fire, and shorty was playing with napalm and didn't even know it. Still though, their faces? Priceless."

"What about the Nazis?," Emily asked with a hint of honest concern that Taylor just smirked at while shrugging lightly.

"What about them? There are rules at Winslow, if you can protect yourself, well, those who matter know and you're left alone otherwise you reap what you sow."

Taylor paused for a moment then shot a smirk at Emily, "As an aside, I am not nearly as subtle with the wannabe Fourth Reich as I am with the Protectorate. Let us call our current interactions an exercise in deference in...the spirit of relations of honor and future endeavors, while leaving it just that for the time being. Shall we move on?"

Emily stared at the smug child at her side a moment before muttering out, "You literally said nothing of import there girl, you are going to become an ongoing problem, aren't you?"

The _shadows giggled _as the girl shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. I honestly only want to help my home town recover from the severe negligence that has been its ongoing bane ever since Leviathan has become a thing."

Emily sagged a bit at that while nodding, "You are not wrong there child..."

Walking in silence they arrived at Armsmaster's lab, and the door soon slid open as Emily tapped the needed keycode into the pad. They were then greeted with a cloud of feathers, a breeze of greasy smoky air, and cackling about the pure efficiency of the power distribution system inherent in the networks design. Umbra...Taylor tilted her head to the side a moment, hit the pad languidly closing the door, then turned back to Emily.

"Tea?"

Emily stared at the young girl a few long moments, then nodded as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder while offering Taylor her hand and asked, "So what do you like to read?"

Taylor sighed as she turned and accepted Emily's hand as they walked away from the lab, "As in what I want to caustically mock people with making them feel like uneducated idiots? Or what I actually enjoy reading for my own pleasure?"

Emily rolled her eyes, "What you actually enjoy reading, I don't need any help in verbally crucifying idiots. I am...quite adept already."

Taylor was quiet for a few moments, then gripped Emily's arm as she grimaced in shame, then muttered out, "I really love the Earth Aleph version of Harry Potter and its fanfiction..."

They were silent for a time as they soon sat down at a glass ensconced observation deck, and took in the bay before them as they settled down on a bench, both ruminating on their thoughts.

Eventually Emily spoke up, "Please tell me you don't ship Hermione with Ron..." she muttered under her breath, Taylor practically bristled at that statement.

Nearly seething she spat out an acidic, "Hell no! That pairing is a murder suicide ready to happen! Harry should have totally ended up with Hermione...or Luna...or Tonks...or...Grrr... Hermione was the spokeswoman for feminism in my generation and that bitch stuck her with fucking RON WEASELY!? What the fuck!?"

Staring at the huffing and puffing girl beside her as the shadows surrounding her writhed in fury complete with glaring eyes and gritting teeth, Emily couldn't help breaking out laughing as she ran a hand through her thin hair while shaking her head slowly in amusement, "Kid...how would you feel about joining the Wards?"


End file.
